A 17th-century brass astrolabe, a complex astronomical instrument crafted by skilled artisans for a Mughal nobleman, has sold for over £2m ($2.75m) at a London auction. The sale, conducted by Sotheby’s, set a new record for an astronomical instrument from the Islamic world, demonstrating the escalating commodification of cultural heritage for private wealth accumulation.
The object, described by Benedict Carter, head of Islamic and Indian Art at Sotheby’s, as “perhaps the largest in existence,” was previously part of the royal collection of Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II of Jaipur. Following his death, it passed to his wife, Maharani Gayatri Devi, before entering a private collection during her lifetime. This trajectory from royal ownership to private hands and then to the auction block illustrates the transfer of collective historical artifacts into the realm of private capital.
Astrolabes are metallic disks with multi-layered components, historically used to tell time, map stars, determine the direction of Mecca, and track celestial motion. Dr. Federica Gigante of the Oxford Centre for History of Science, Medicine and Technology compared them to “modern-day smartphones” due to their versatility, noting they could calculate sunset and sunrise times, the height of buildings, the depth of wells, distance, and even predict the future, including casting horoscopes with an almanac.
Artisan Labor, Nobleman's Status
This particular instrument was produced in the early 17th Century, about 4 centuries ago, in Lahore, a leading hub of astrolabe-making in the Mughal world. It was created by two brothers, Qa'im Muhammad and Muhammad Muqim, for Aqa Afzal, a Mughal nobleman. The brothers were part of the renowned “Lahore School,” a center where the craft was “kept within a single family and passed down generations.” Only two astrolabes are known to have been jointly made by these brothers, with the other, much smaller piece, housed in a museum in Iraq.
Aqa Afzal, the nobleman who commissioned the astrolabe, administered Lahore during this period and held several senior posts under Mughal emperors Jahangir and Shah Jahan. The object’s “massive size and opulence reflect the patron’s stature,” according to the base article, highlighting how the intricate labor of skilled artisans served to enhance the status and accumulated wealth of the ruling class.
Carter detailed the astrolabe’s physical attributes, noting it weighs 8.2kg, measures nearly 30cm in diameter, and stands about 46cm tall, making it almost four times the size of a typical 17th-century Indian astrolabe. Its “striking cross-cultural element” includes star pointers with standard Persian names alongside Sanskrit equivalents etched in the Devanagari script. Sotheby’s further noted the piece contains 94 inscribed cities with their longitudes and latitudes, 38 star pointers linked by intricate floral tracery, five precision-calibrated plates, and degree divisions subdivided down to a third of a degree. This level of detail reflects the extraordinary craftsmanship of the Lahore School, which Carter stated was “at its most refined” at the time.
The Commodification of Heritage
The scientific impulse of the Mughal court, where rulers and courtiers showed a heightened interest in astronomy and astrology, provided the context for such creations. Dr. Gigante emphasized its accuracy, stating it would provide “the exact degree of altitude [of a celestial body],” with the only comparable instrument likely one made for Abbas II of Persia. This advanced scientific knowledge, embodied in the astrolabe, was a product of collective human ingenuity and specialized labor, yet its value is now realized through private sale.
Sotheby’s had anticipated “keen interest from museums and collectors” due to the piece’s “pristine condition and royal provenance.” The auction result surpassed the previous record held by an Ottoman astrolabe made for Sultan Bayezid II, a smaller piece sold 12 years ago, in 2014, for just under £1m. This continuous upward valuation of historical artifacts in the global auction market underscores the ongoing process of wealth concentration, where the products of generations of labor and cultural development become exclusive commodities for the ultra-rich.