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Lot Essay
Globes of this type are the oldest form of celestial mapping. Although their origins can be traced back to Greece in the 6th century, the oldest extant examples come from the Islamic world. Similar globes were made across the region. A wooden globe with similar demarcations in bold naskh, though painted rather than engraved, is in the Musée de l’Institut du monde arabe (AI 83-07; L’âge d’or des sciences arabes, exhibition catalogue, Paris, 2005, p.109, no.45). That example is catalogued as Ottoman 17th century. A similar globe, published as ‘Indo-Persian in the Lahore tradition’ and dated to the 17th century by Emilie Savage-Smith recently sold at Sotheby’s, 1 April 2009, lot 101 (also published Emilie Savage-Smith, ‘Islamicate celestial globes, their History, Construction and Use’, 1985, 261, no.87).
Ours, however, relates most closely to a Safavid example in the Khalili Collection, catalogued to the first half of the 17th century (Francis, Maddison and Emilie Savage-Smith, Science, Tools and Magic, Volume I and II: The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, London, 1997, pp.248-249, no.143). Like ours, the Khalili globe has an elegant naskh inscription – with bold upstrokes with distinctive elegant returns. It is dated precisely because its star positions are consistent with those used on a globe now in the Victoria and Albert Museum which is signed Muhammad Zaman and dated AH 1050/1640-41 AD (https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O87522/celestial-globe-zaman-muhammad/). Another, not dated, but also ascribed to the 17th century, is in the Musée de l’Institut du monde arabe (AI 86-22; Museum Album, Paris, 2012, p.268, no.228).
Ours, however, relates most closely to a Safavid example in the Khalili Collection, catalogued to the first half of the 17th century (Francis, Maddison and Emilie Savage-Smith, Science, Tools and Magic, Volume I and II: The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, London, 1997, pp.248-249, no.143). Like ours, the Khalili globe has an elegant naskh inscription – with bold upstrokes with distinctive elegant returns. It is dated precisely because its star positions are consistent with those used on a globe now in the Victoria and Albert Museum which is signed Muhammad Zaman and dated AH 1050/1640-41 AD (https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O87522/celestial-globe-zaman-muhammad/). Another, not dated, but also ascribed to the 17th century, is in the Musée de l’Institut du monde arabe (AI 86-22; Museum Album, Paris, 2012, p.268, no.228).