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Lot Essay
Table of stars:
Aliot
Cin: Andr
Spica [Virgo]
Cap [Aries]
Arctu
Os: Ceti
Corona
Cor [Scorpio]
Ocul. [Taurus]
Hircus
Pes: Ori S.
Cin Orio
Auriga
Lyra
Can. ma:
Can: mi:
Aquila
Corn: VS.
Cignus
Cor: hy:
Cor: [Leo]
Fomaha
Caud [Leo]
Ala peg
In the Archer-Houblon Archive at Welford Park are a handful of letters referring to the astrolabe as Panchronologia. They reveal that the object was sent on a four year loan to Professor Karl Pearson F.R.S. (1857-1936) at University College London, alongside a now lost manuscript which bore the same title and was dated 1672/3. The letters confirm that Panchronologia was first cleaned in December 1900 and that Pearson appears to have been more interested in the face with the slide rule than the astrolabe: when he exhibits it at the Royal Society it was described as the former.
Furthermore, he writes that he compared the handwriting of the manuscript to that of Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1726) but that there was no match to indicate his involvement – his investigation stems from the familial tradition that asserted the manuscript and astrolabe were passed down the generations from Newton himself, to whom they were related. Whilst the attribution to Newton is spurious, the question of authorship is a curious one since an astrolabe of this size would normally have been signed; with a diameter of 26 inches and weighing over 23 pounds it is the largest extant English astrolabe we can trace.
A similar, but smaller, 17-inch universal astrolabe at the History of Science Museum in Oxford (inv.51786) is signed and dated 1659 by Henry Sutton (c.1635-65), who is widely regarded as the preeminent instrument maker of the era, famed for the accuracy of his scales. Indeed, it is tempting to speculate that Sir John Houblon (1632-1712) may have even known Sutton since he lived on Threadneedle Street, where Sutton had his workshop, although though no known documentation exists to confirm the acquaintance. What is more concrete however is that the current astrolabe is clearly related to that in Oxford. Although dated thirteen years after Sutton’s death, the table of stars on the 1678 astrolabe includes and expands upon those on the earlier instrument. Further a copying error on the perpetual calendar attest to this relationship: a ‘78’ on the Oxford astrolabe is punched incorrectly with the ‘8’ on its side resembling ‘00’; this is copied onto the larger astrolabe’s perpetual calendar as ‘700’. The maker of the instrument in 1678 either had access to the Sutton astrolabe or the remarkable reverse print made from it, also preserved in Oxford (inv.56420).
The most likely candidate to have had that access to the master maker’s instruments are amongst one of Sutton’s five recorded apprentices: specifically John Marke (fl.1664-79) who caught the attention of John Collins (1625-83) when he wrote that ‘We hope he may prove as good a Workeman as his deceased Master’. From his surviving instruments, the visible similarity in the style of engraving mixed with the use of smaller punched numbers is striking. He is also known in 1673 to have engraved a new plate for the then century old “Great Astrolabe” (University of St. Andrews ID PH201) by Humphrey Cole (d.1591), which is the only other extant English astrolabe on this scale, having a diameter of 24 inches.
Aliot
Cin: Andr
Spica [Virgo]
Cap [Aries]
Arctu
Os: Ceti
Corona
Cor [Scorpio]
Ocul. [Taurus]
Hircus
Pes: Ori S.
Cin Orio
Auriga
Lyra
Can. ma:
Can: mi:
Aquila
Corn: VS.
Cignus
Cor: hy:
Cor: [Leo]
Fomaha
Caud [Leo]
Ala peg
In the Archer-Houblon Archive at Welford Park are a handful of letters referring to the astrolabe as Panchronologia. They reveal that the object was sent on a four year loan to Professor Karl Pearson F.R.S. (1857-1936) at University College London, alongside a now lost manuscript which bore the same title and was dated 1672/3. The letters confirm that Panchronologia was first cleaned in December 1900 and that Pearson appears to have been more interested in the face with the slide rule than the astrolabe: when he exhibits it at the Royal Society it was described as the former.
Furthermore, he writes that he compared the handwriting of the manuscript to that of Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1726) but that there was no match to indicate his involvement – his investigation stems from the familial tradition that asserted the manuscript and astrolabe were passed down the generations from Newton himself, to whom they were related. Whilst the attribution to Newton is spurious, the question of authorship is a curious one since an astrolabe of this size would normally have been signed; with a diameter of 26 inches and weighing over 23 pounds it is the largest extant English astrolabe we can trace.
A similar, but smaller, 17-inch universal astrolabe at the History of Science Museum in Oxford (inv.51786) is signed and dated 1659 by Henry Sutton (c.1635-65), who is widely regarded as the preeminent instrument maker of the era, famed for the accuracy of his scales. Indeed, it is tempting to speculate that Sir John Houblon (1632-1712) may have even known Sutton since he lived on Threadneedle Street, where Sutton had his workshop, although though no known documentation exists to confirm the acquaintance. What is more concrete however is that the current astrolabe is clearly related to that in Oxford. Although dated thirteen years after Sutton’s death, the table of stars on the 1678 astrolabe includes and expands upon those on the earlier instrument. Further a copying error on the perpetual calendar attest to this relationship: a ‘78’ on the Oxford astrolabe is punched incorrectly with the ‘8’ on its side resembling ‘00’; this is copied onto the larger astrolabe’s perpetual calendar as ‘700’. The maker of the instrument in 1678 either had access to the Sutton astrolabe or the remarkable reverse print made from it, also preserved in Oxford (inv.56420).
The most likely candidate to have had that access to the master maker’s instruments are amongst one of Sutton’s five recorded apprentices: specifically John Marke (fl.1664-79) who caught the attention of John Collins (1625-83) when he wrote that ‘We hope he may prove as good a Workeman as his deceased Master’. From his surviving instruments, the visible similarity in the style of engraving mixed with the use of smaller punched numbers is striking. He is also known in 1673 to have engraved a new plate for the then century old “Great Astrolabe” (University of St. Andrews ID PH201) by Humphrey Cole (d.1591), which is the only other extant English astrolabe on this scale, having a diameter of 24 inches.