@museumwnf/scientific-objects-data 1.0.3 → 1.0.4

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-{"00a4a413-b81a-55ed-8395-f8514dc9b430":{"name":"Astrolabe.","description":"The astrolabe is in the form of a clock face. Seven plates belong to it, one of them fixed and the others rotating. The six rotating plates are attached to the fixed one by a central screw decorated with a rosette. On top of the faces of these plates, which have meridians, concentric circles and astronomical and astrological terms and names engraved on them, is placed an indicator with hooked ends which can be used to determine the positions of 29 stars. These in turn can be used to measure time and distance.  \n  \nHistorical sources indicate that the astrolabe was invented by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus in the second century BC. The most advanced types of astrolabe were used by the Muslims of al-Andalus and the Maghreb.","short_description":"Astrolabes are astronomical instruments used for measuring time and distance. Their plates bear engraved concentric circles, meridians and astrological terms and numerals. Invented in the 2nd century BC, the most advanced astrolabes were used by the Muslims in al-Andalus and the Maghreb.","type":"Scientific instrument, metalwork","holder":"Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts.","initial_owner":"Muhammad bin Batut of the Hamairi family.","dates":"Hegira 650 / AD 1252.","location":"Sultanahmet, Istanbul.","dimensions":"Height 19 cm, diameter 17 cm.","method_for_datation":"According to the inscription on the astrolabe, it was made in the year 650 / 1252 and belonged to Muhammad bin Batut of the Hamairi family in Ishbiliya (modern Seville).","method_for_provenance":"The inscription specifies the city of Ishbiliya (modern Seville).","provenance":"Ishbiliya (modern Seville), Spain.","obtention":"Transferred to the Museum in 1964 from the Treasury of the Topkapı Palace Museum, Istanbul.","bibliography":"ölçer, N. *et al, Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art*, Istanbul, 2002, p.90.","author":"Alev Özay","translator":"Barry Wood","translation_copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["astrology","astronomy","brass","calligraphy","science"],"materials":["Cast and beaten brass with engraved decoration."]},"026dea32-9637-5a90-8cb3-ddf63a376262":{"name":"Astronomical instrument: *Qiblanuma*.","description":"The *qiblanuma* is a portable astronomical instrument whose name literally means 'showing the direction to the Ka'ba'. The wooden instrument is round, with a lid, and is decorated with lacquering, a technique known as *Edirnekari*, in red, pink, black, blue, green, and gilding. The main body includes the compass and pointer. The regions where the instrument can be used are shown on a map and a list of cities is given with their Arabic names.  \n  \nThe upper part of the inside lid shows, on a green background, the minarets of the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, with the Ka'ba in the courtyard. To the left of this are depictions of the sacred sites at the Plain of 'Arafat. To the right and in the foreground are date palms and olive trees, symbols of paradise and blessing. The empty space in the background is filled with illustrations of pomegranates in a bowl, representing plenty. A cartouche framed with leaf motifs extending from among the pomegranates, is decorated with a bouquet of roses on a gold background. The rose bouquet, symbolic of the Prophet Muhammad, was a popular motif in 18th-century Ottoman literature and floral paintings. Fruits in a bowl, symbolising fertility, abundance and immortality, were a typical motif of the period. The inscription in the lower part of the inside lid states that the instrument was made by Barun al-Muhtari in Istanbul in AH 1151 / AD 1738. It also includes instructions on how to use the instrument.  \n  \nThe outside of the lid is decorated in the naturalistic style known as Turkish Baroque-Rococo on a gold background. It features vases filled with roses and flowers surrounded by garlands of acanthus leaves and scrolling tendrils. Six oval medallions placed in this composition feature figureless landscape depictions, which are also found on wall paintings of the same period. The landscape depictions include views of lakes, houses amid trees on the shore, mansions, and villages on the opposite shore, all drawn with the illusion of depth.","short_description":"*Qiblanuma*s are portable astronomical instruments that show the direction to the Ka'ba in Mecca, which Muslims face to pray. They remained in use until the late AH 13th / AD 19th century and this example produced in Istanbul was decorated with a lacquering technique known as *Edirnekari*.","type":"Scientific instrument, laquered on wood","holder":"Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts.","dates":"Hegira 1151 / AD 1738.","location":"Sultanahmet, Istanbul.","dimensions":"Diameter 31 cm.","method_for_datation":"The date 1151 (1738–9) is given on the inside of the lid.","method_for_provenance":"The inscription inside the lid gives the place of production as Istanbul.","provenance":"Istanbul, Turkey.","obtention":"The instrument was transferred to the museum in 1951 from the Hisar Mosque in Izmir, .","bibliography":"Ölçer, N. *et al, In Pursuit of Excellence: The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts*, Istanbul, 1993, p.88.  \n  \nÖlçer, N. *et al, Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art*, Istanbul, 2002, pp.290–91.","linkcatalogs":"IAM_TR_EN_001","author":"Gönül Tekeli","translator":"Barry Wood","translation_copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["astronomical instrument","Edirnekari technique","lacquer","Ottoman Baroque","pilgrimage","Qiblanuma","science."],"materials":["Lacquered (Edirnekari technique) on wood."]},"06f33fba-bdfd-5b3c-aa40-773547772993":{"name":"Astrolabe","short_description":"An astrolabe is a computing device used to solve various astronomical problems, such as telling time. The body of an astrolabe, which is known as the mater, consists of a metal disc with a raised rim. Stored within the mater are several circular metal plates, each engraved with a stereographic projection of the heavens at a specific latitude. Laid atop the uppermost of these plates (whichever one matches the current location of the user) is the rete, an open-work metal plate that functions as a star map, with the location of certain bright stars indicated by pointers. On the reverse of the mater is the alidade, a sight used for measuring the altitude of the sun by day and of a given star by night.","type":"Scientific instrument","holder":"The Chester Beatty Library","dates":"Hegira 1120 / AD 1708-1709","location":"Dublin","dimensions":"Diameter c. 12 cm","provenance":"Iran, Isfahan","catalogue_holding_link":"https://viewer.cbl.ie/viewer/image/Is_Sc6/1/LOG_0000/","keywords":["astronomy","calligraphy","science","scientific instrument"],"materials":["brass"]},"070ed0d9-7748-52d3-bd7e-202fe737f430":{"name":"Astrolabe.","description":"Planispheric astrolabe made of brass and comprising four main pieces: a box or 'mother' made up of five sheets that represent different latitudes, a network or 'spider' with indicators for 24 stars and an alidade. On the obverse or 'back' there is a zodiacal calendar and an altimetric scale called the 'shadow square'.  \nAstrolabes are versatile instruments that allow the position of the sun and stars to be calculated. They serve as a calendar and as a clock, and can be used to measure heights and distances. They were used in navigation until they were replaced by the quadrant. They were very useful for working out the time during the day and the night, and for establishing prayer times.  \nThis instrument was made in Toledo by the astrolabe maker Ibrahim ibn Said al-Sahali, whose name appears with the year of manufacture (AH 459 / AD 1067) in an inscription in Arabic on the back. Another two astrolabes and a celestial globe signed by him also exist. The astrolabe in the National Archaeological Museum has all of the characteristics of the Andalusian astrolabes, which were famous from the time of the Caliphate and continued to be made in the different Taifas, as in this example from Toledo.","short_description":"Made in Toledo (according to the inscription), this is one of the oldest astrolabes to have survived, and it demonstrates the scientific excellence attained in al-Andalus during the Taifa era. It was used to find one’s position using the stars in the night sky shown on one of its faces.","type":"Scientific instrument, metalwork","holder":"National Archaeological Museum.","dates":"Hegira 459 / AD 1067.","location":"Madrid","dimensions":"Diameter 24.2 cm, maximum depth 1.9 cm.","method_for_datation":"On the back, on the upper part, there is an inscription with the date: 'In the month of Sha'ban of the year 459' (AD 1067).","method_for_provenance":"The name of the city where it was made, Toledo, is written on the back.","provenance":"Toledo, Spain.","obtention":"The astrolabe came to the National Archaeological Museum in 1867 from the National Library.","bibliography":"García Franco, S., *Catálogo Crítico de Astrolabios Existentes en España, Madrid, 1945, pp.229–35.*  \nKing, D. A. “Andalusi Astronomical Instruments”, in *Al Andalus: The Art of Islamic Spain* (ed. J. D. Dodds), New York, 1992, pp.376–83.  \nSamsó, J., *Islamic Astronomy and Medieval Spain*, Aldershot, Hampshire, 1994.  \nVernet, J. and Samsó, J., *Instrumentos Astronómicos en la España Medieval: Su Influencia en Europa*, Santa Cruz de la Palma, 1985, pp.80–1.  \nViladrich, M., “Astrolabios Andalusíes”, in *El Legado Científico Andalusí*, Madrid, 1992, pp.53–65.","author":"M.ª del Carmen Alonso Rodríguez","copy_editor":"Rosalía Aller","translator":"Laurence Nunny","translation_copy_editor":"Monica Allen","keywords":["astrolabe","astronomy","science","Taifas","Toledo","zodiac"],"materials":["Cast and engraved brass"]},"0a01c64a-7bc8-567a-8c39-1d5b33e5f0a2":{"name":"Astrolabe.","description":"A round, brass astrolabe with a circular frame and an arabesque cartouche at the top from which a ring (the throne) would have been attached and the instrument suspended when in use. The astrolabe is an instrument used from at least the AH 2nd / AD 8th century. It is a multi-functional device that is employed in several ways: timekeeping by day and night; surveying and determining the distance and height of objects; measuring latitude and reading horoscopes. To use the astrolabe the appropriate disc is selected and inserted into the frame (mater) and set to a specific date and time according to the geographic location of the user. A plate (rete) with open-work zodiac signs in the inner circle, and other constellations in the outer circle, revolves over this giving an accurate astronomical reading.  \nIn the inscription on the back of the astrolabe is the name of the craftsman Abd al-Karim, accompanied by the names al-Malik, al-Mu’izz and Shihab al-Din. As there is no single ruler bearing this title before the year AH 638 / AD 1241, this is probably a list of three different individuals. It has been suggested that these names can be identified as: al-Malik al-Ashraf Musa I, one of the most powerful Ayyubid rulers of the early AH 7th / AD 13th century, and al-Mu’izz, a younger brother of al-Malik. The third name may be another younger brother of al-Malik al-Ashraf: al-Malik al-Muzaffar Shihab al-Din Ghazi who ruled the city of Mayyafariqin from AH 617–45 / AD 1220/1–47. These three Ayyubid brothers probably employed the craftsman, while the patron of this astrolabe is identified as Shihab al-Din.","short_description":"To use this astrolabe, the appropriate disc is inserted into the circular frame. Zodiac signs on the outer circle and constellations on the inner circle are revolved to give an astronomical reading. The readings have many uses, from telling the time of day for prayer times to reading horoscopes.","type":"Scientific instrument, metalwork, brass, copper, silver","holder":"The British Museum.","dates":"Hegira 683 / AD 1240–41.","location":"London, England","dimensions":"Height 26.45 cm, width 19.02 cm.","method_for_datation":"Previously the date was read as 633 (1236). However, Ward (2004) has recently made a more accurate reading of 638 (1240–1).","method_for_provenance":"Until recently the inscription was interpreted as al-Misri (from Cairo, Egypt). However, Ward (2004) believes it to refer to a ‘city’ and not specifically to Cairo. The inscription then refers to three Ayyubid brothers who ruled over parts of northern Syria and the Jazira in the first half of the 7th / 13th century. It is now thought that this astrolabe was produced in Mayyafariqin, a city known for its metalworking industry, which was under the rule of Shihab al-Din in around 637 / 1240.","provenance":"Syria or the Jazira.","obtention":"Acquired in 1855.","bibliography":"Ward, R., \"The Inscription of the Astrolabe by 'Abd al-Karim in the British Museum\", Muqarnas, XXI, 2004, pp.345–57.","author":"Emily Shovelton","copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["astrology","astronomy","constellation","science","timekeeping","zodiac"],"materials":["Engraved brass with silver and copper inlay."]},"0db4a4c1-61f8-578b-9b95-99cacaf89afb":{"name":"Astrolabe","description":"Astrolabe. Made by 'Abd al-Karim al-Misri.","type":"Scientific instrument; metalwork","holder":"The British Museum","dates":"1236; acquisition date: 1855","location":"London","provenance":"Egypt"},"1028751a-07f0-53c2-8d14-e1b298d6e008":{"name":"Board","alternate_name":"Qur'anic board","description":"Qur'anic board used in the African *madrasas* (schools), places where the first verses of the Qur'an are learned, under the direction of the *marabout* (teacher). The learning method consists of copying and reciting the different verses of the Qur'an, in a process of memorisation, which allows the students to erase them and then to write the following verses. The *alluha* (table of wood), the reed, and the ink are the only available pedagogic materials of the Qur'anic schools in the rural areas. The Qur'anic boards turn into documents that preserve the written personality of those who used them, the irregularity of the letter, the crooked lines, the hesitations, the corrected mistakes, the erased lines that refuse to disappear, as a register of a period of effort and domain of skills typical of the school stage.","type":"Print; Woodwork","holder":"National Museum of Anthropology","dates":"19th century","location":"Madrid","copy_editor":"Anne Dowell"},"1488ab73-2672-5641-a84a-174c9bfb4fd8":{"name":"Perpetual calendar","description":"This perpetual calendar is contained within a cylindrical silver casing with a rounded shoulder. Four lateral knobs, two on either side, move the calendar's paper and textile elements, giving the month, the date and probably the day (this section is damaged). Above, a circular medallion contains the start year of the calendar, 1327 H/ 1909 AD.  The calendar is decorated all over with delicate niello deccoration. The front, with three superposed and elongated cartouche-shaped openings, is ornamented with a lobed panel containing naturalistic flower sprays. Below, a panel with three loop extensions contains an Arabic inscription - taqweem da'imi - that identifies the object's function. In the Tanzimat period, and up to 1926, the Mailya or Rumi calendar was introduced, which was based on the Julian solar calendar but started in the year of the Prophet's (pbuh) move from Makkah to Madina in 1 H/ 622 AD. It used old Syrian names for the months and was intended to ease the annual tax and fiscal calculations and payments.","type":"Nielloed silver calendar; metalwork","holder":"Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation / Sharjah Museums Department","dates":"Hegira 1327 / AD 1909","location":"Sharjah","provenance":"Ottoman empire","author":"Ulrike Al-Khamis"},"16b09d34-6359-51a2-97ca-7d634682b13c":{"name":"Planispheric astrolabe.","description":"The astrolabe is an astronomical instrument consisting of several parts. The main part is the circular body, called the mater, which is composed of a limb (outer edge) fastened to a plate. The limb of the mater bears a 360° scale, numbered clockwise at intervals of five degrees. Every fifteen degrees is punctuated by a dotted line. Above, a handle is attached to the body. The ring that normally passes through the handle is missing. It served to fix a cord since the astrolabe was used suspended. Seven thin plates and the rete, a skeleton-like plate which indicates the stars, are fitted into the mater. A pin, passing through a hole at the centre, holds the several parts together.  \nThe planispheric astrolabe is based on the principle of stereographic projection. The circles on the plates present the spherical surface of the earth at particular geographical latitude. The circles of the rete correspond to the vault of the fixed stars. Because the rete is the movable part, originally turned around by four knobs that are now missing, both the earth and the firmament can be set in combination with each other. The stars are indicated by the star-pointers. The 29 star-pointers of this astrolabe have bulbous bases, which are perforated with holes. The names of the stars are engraved in *kufic* letters below the pointer. The attraction of Western Arabic astrolabes derives from the curvatures and decorations of these star pointers. Another important part of the rete is the ecliptic, the circle of the zodiac. The Arabic names of the zodiacal signs are engraved in *kufic*.  \nOn the back of the astrolabe are several circles representing the zodiac or the months of the Julian calendar with their Arabic names and two shadow squares. Above the east–west line are engraved the name of Ahmad ibn Ali al-Sharfi, the craftsman who made the astrolabe, and the date and place of manufacture.  \nAn astrolabe was used for various purposes such as the measuring of the altitude of the sun or the stars to determine the times of sunrise, sunset or prayer.","short_description":"Astronomical instrument. It consists of several parts, which indicate, for example, the stars, the zodiac or the ecliptic. It served various purposes such as measuring the altitude of the sun or the stars to determine the times of sunrise, sunset or prayer.","type":"Scientific instrument, metalwork","holder":"National Maritime Museum.","dates":"Hegira 729 / AD 1329.","location":"Stockholm","dimensions":"Diameter 12.2 cm.","method_for_datation":"The year of its manufacture is given on the back.","method_for_provenance":"The place of manufacture, which is incised together with the name of the craftsman on the back of the astrolabe, is given as Alcalá.","provenance":"Alcalá (near Sevilla), Spain.","obtention":"The astrolabe was bought by a Major Arvid Mörner in Fez, Morocco in 1907. In December 1931 the National Maritime Museum acquired the astrolabe from the property of Count Otto Hamilton.","bibliography":"Gunther, R. T., *The Astrolabes of the World*, 2 vols. London (reprint), 1976.  \nKing, D. A., *Islamic Astronomical Instruments*, London, 1987.  \nMaddison, F. and Savage-Smith, E., in *Science, Tools and Magic*, Part 1, Vol. 12 of the Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art (ed. J. Raby), London, New York, 1997.  \n*Sjöhistoriska Museet Årsbok*, 108, 1988/9.  \nStautz, B., *Die Astrolabiensammlungen des Deutschen Museums und des Bayrischen Nationalmuseums*, Munich 1999.","author":"Friederike Voigt (on the basis of information about the object given by Susanna Allesson Nyberg).","copy_editor":"Monica Allen","keywords":["astrolabe","astronomy","prayer","science"],"materials":["brass","engraved."]},"17dd3ddc-9ae3-581d-8b9f-700deb1e3f48":{"name":"Omega Speedmaster Watch","description":"When the American astronaut Buzz Aldrin walked on the surface of the moon on 21 July 1969, he was wearing an Omega Speedmaster wristwatch. Originally, Neil Armstrong was supposed to wear a similar watch when, prior to Aldrin, he became the first human being to set foot on the moon. However, after the moon lander’s clock broke during the approach, Armstrong decided to leave his Speedmaster in the lander just to be on the safe side. These watches, made in the Swiss city of Biel, had been chosen by the US space agency NASA because of their superior quality: Omega watches were simply better than any competing timepiece and the Speedmaster, made in the Swiss canton of Berne, was the only model that was found to be spaceworthy after stringent testing. The watches were tested under conditions of zero gravity, extreme temperatures, and high acceleration. Thus the Omega Speedmaster became the only representative of Switzerland ever to reach the moon.","type":"Watch","holder":"Swiss National Museum","owner":"Swiss Confederation","dates":"1967","location":"Zurich","dimensions":"L: 24,7cm, Diameter: 3.97cm","method_for_datation":"Documents","provenance":"Switzerland, Biel, canton of Bern","obtention":"Bought in 2009","workshop":"Omega AG","keywords":["Biel","Bienne","Omega","Speedmaster","Watch"],"materials":["glass","leather","steel"]},"2a51dcfa-cb1d-50b4-aa78-fe06eed41edc":{"name":"Plan of Temple Mount, called “Harem ech-Cherif” by Muslims. (In French)","description":"This annotated plan by Ermete Pierotti pays particular attention to the water cisterns below the surface of the Haram al Sharif, which were used by those people who lived in, worked in, and visited the compound. Ermete Pierotti was an Italian naval officer who was employed by the Ottoman government in Jerusalem between 1854 and 1861. He was an engineer on the Haram al Sharif. This gave him unprecedented access to the monuments, which he recorded in some detail.","type":"Hand-annotated plan with extensive notes","holder":"Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF)","owner":"Palestine Exploration Fund","initial_owner":"Ermete Pierotti","dates":"AH 1862 / AD 1862","location":"London","dimensions":"41 x 30cm","place_of_production":"Jerusalem","method_for_datation":"Written on document","method_for_provenance":"Written on document","provenance":"Jerusalem and Cambridge","obtention":"Acquired following Ermete Pierotti's death","bibliography":"Pierotti, E., J*erusalem Explored: Being a Description of the Ancient and Modern City, with Numerous Illustrations Consisting of Views, Ground Plans and Sections*, London: Bell and Daldy, 1864.  \n  \nLegouas, J.Y., “Saving Captain Pierotti”, in *Palestine Exploration Quarterly*, 143.3 (2013).","workshop":"Ermete Pierotti, Jerusalem","author":"Felicity Cobbing","copy_editor":"Judy Harter","keywords":["Cisterns","Ermete Pierotti","Haram Al Sharif","Jerusalem","Ottoman"],"materials":["Ink","Paper","watercolour"]},"30efc219-29fa-5f32-b34b-24791540a5c9":{"name":"Astrolabe","description":"This portable astrolabe consists of a suspension device with a 18cm diameter disk, divided up into degrees, and a handle. Two moving parts are used for measurements: the spider on the front, and the alidade (a flat ruler revolving round a point) on the back. The astrolabe remained in use as the primary tool for navigation until the 18th century. However, it was also used as an astronomical tool, to measure the height of stars from the horizon, or the angle separating one star from another.","type":"Scientific instrument; metalworks","holder":"Musée national du Bardo","dates":"Late 18th century","location":"Le Bardo, Tunis","provenance":"Tunis","author":"Saloua Zangar","translator":"Flaminia Baldwin"},"331be2fc-32f2-5ed5-bb67-3f9817fcb2d0":{"name":"*Aegilops ovata* L.","alternate_name":"Geniculate goatgrass (common name)","description":"This is a Portuguese case of this scientific transnational reality. Herbarium sheet with three fruiting specimens of Aegilops ovata. The specimens were collected in Algeria, in May 1840 by the Scientific Commission of Argelia, under M. Durieu supervision. It includes a label with the scientific name and collecting details, as well as a color scale and a linear scale. A detail: Genus Aegilops is possibly one of the ancestors to common wheat.","type":"Herbarium specimen","holder":"National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) / Museums of the University of Lisbon","dates":"1840","location":"Lisbon","provenance":"Algeria","author":"Ana Isabel Correia (FCUL/MUHNAC-UL)"},"3ce9d4f4-ee92-5a23-b01e-6209cae6e2dc":{"name":"Celestial Globe","description":"This precisely executed globe, made of two hemispheres, is the sixth earliest surviving celestial globe. The maker’s name is given twice on the globe. The first, and shorter inscription, states that the globe was made by Muhammad ibn Mahmud ibn ‘Ali al-Tabari. His name appears again in the longer five-line inscription, where he omits the name of his grandfather and his nisbah, but emphasizes instead his trade as an astrolabe-maker, al-asturlabi. And indeed the globe does reflect the work of a professional instrument maker.  \n  \nThe long inscription, situated near the south pole of the instrument, states that its maker, Muhammad ibn Mahmud based it on the illustrations in the AH 4th / AD 10th-century astronomer al-Sufi’s *Kitab suwar al-kawakib al-thabitah* (‘Book of the Fixed Stars’), adapting it to take account of the 200-year lapse of time and rectifying errors of placement and spelling and that the maker had written the identifications of the various constellations of the Zodiac, fixed stars, lunar mansions, and of some non-Zodiacal constellations as well. These show certain discrepancies with al-Sufi’s figures, and, further away from the ecliptic, the star-positions are increasingly misleading. And, although the maker does not say so, he would also have been responsible for calibrating the globe, a necessary condition of its being used for astronomical purposes.","type":"Scientific instrument","holder":"Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art","owner":"Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art","dates":"AH 684 (AD 1285–6)","location":"London","dimensions":"Diameter: 13.4cm","place_of_production":"Iran","method_for_datation":"Dated AH 684 (AD 1285–6)","bibliography":"Maddison, F. and Savage-Smith, E., *Science, Tools & Magic. The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, vol. XII. Part One: Body and Spirit Mapping the Universe, London: The Nour Foundation, 1997: cat.123, pp.212–13.  \n  \nRogers, J.M., *The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from the Khalili Collection*, London: Thames & Hudson, 2010: cat.365, p.309.*","catalogue_holding_link":"https://www.khalilicollections.org/collections/islamic-art/khalili-collection-islamic-art-celestial-globe-sci21/","author":"Qaisra Khan","materials":["brass","incised and inlaid with silver"]},"3e423cff-0065-54f2-9ad6-2060de93303b":{"name":"Barometer","description":"This barometer was a fixture of the Ottoman Anatolian Railway Company (CFOA – Chemin de fer Otoman d'Anatolie), 19th century.","type":"Scientific instrument","holder":"Istanbul Railway Museum","dates":"1888","location":"Istanbul","provenance":"Istanbul","copy_editor":"Daniel de la Vega"},"52254363-31d0-54f5-bab4-97458eb40b9d":{"name":"Vanadinite","description":"Vanadinite crystals on matrix. Vanadinite is a vanadate mineral with the chemical formula Pb5(VO4)3Cl. This mineral species was named Vanadinite (1839) because it contains vanadium. It belongs to the Apatite group of phosphates. Crystals of vanadinite conform to the hexagonal system of symmetry. These Vanadinite crystals are short prismatic, with smooth faces and sharp hedges. Their colour is orange-red and they are nearly opaque. And they present an intense resinous lustre. Vanadinite occurs as a secondary mineral in the oxidized zone of lead-bearing deposits and it is one of the main industrial ores of the element vanadium. This sample has been collected at Mibladen Mine, Midelt, Khénifra Province, Morocco.","type":"Mineral","holder":"National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) / Museums of the University of Lisbon","dates":"c. 1839","location":"Lisbon","provenance":"Mibladen Mine, Midelt, Morocco","author":"Liliana Póvoas (MUHNAC-UL)"},"5dff6363-db06-5f8b-a5b7-182ee09e3ba6":{"name":"Gas burner","alternate_name":"Set of Bunsen burners","description":"The object is a set of four Bunsen burners, in metal. Each burner has its own regulation valve for gas. The Bunsen Burner is still today widely used in chemistry laboratories.","type":"Scientific instrument","holder":"National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) / Museums of the University of Lisbon","dates":"c. 1900–20","location":"Lisbon","author":"Marta C. Lourenço (MUHNAC-UL)"},"5f18b902-02aa-5f60-bcb2-d6de493dfceb":{"name":"Implement to remove teeth.","description":"An implement similar to a pair of pliers that originally would have terminated with a saw-like edge, to facilitate a dentist in pulling, for instance, a septic tooth. The metal ring around the middle of the instrument would have moved and facilitated the doctor in manoeuvring the instrument, thus allowing him a better grip on the tooth. The early Muslims excelled in medicine and surgery, including dental medicine, and they created a number of instruments, which assisted them in carrying out different surgical operations, one of which is this.  \nSurgical operations included the use of general anaesthesia. For example an anaesthetic sponge was used; soaked in hashish oil, opium and belladonna; it was then dried in the sun. When the time came it was moistened and placed on the nose of the patient where the tranquilizing substances were absorbed by the patient's tissues sending him into a deep sleep, and thereby ensuring that he remained free from pain during surgery. Surgical instruments were subjected to processes of sterilisation in order that infection would not be transferred from one patient to another, especially in dentistry where the spread of infection was more likely. At this time Abu Bakr al-Razi (AH 251–313 / AD 865-925) had already arrived at the discovery of the preparation of alcohol which was used in the sterilisation of surgical instruments.","short_description":"Not only did Muslim physicians excel in diagnosis and treatment but they also invented tools that would help surgery in general and dentistry in particular. They used different kinds of anaesthetics and sterilised their surgical tools.","type":"Teeth remover, copper","holder":"Museum of Islamic Art","dates":"Hegira 3rd century / AD 9th century.","location":"Cairo","dimensions":"Length 10 cm.","method_for_datation":"This instrument was dated based on its discovery, along with a number of other surgical instruments, in the city of Fustat. During the Abbasid period the city was well-known for its flourishing scientific movement, especially in the fields of medicine and surgery. Al-Fatih ibn Khaqan, a minister of the Abbasid caliph, al-Mutawakkil 'ala Allah (r. 232–47 / 847–61) built a hospital in Fustat in 247 / 861. Ahmad ibn Tulun (r. 254–70 / 868–84) also built the *al-'Alaa* Hospital in 254 / 868 in Fustat.","method_for_provenance":"It is likely that this instrument was produced in Egypt as it was discovered during archaeological excavations in Fustat along with a number of similar surgical instruments.","provenance":"Egypt.","obtention":"The instrument was donated to the museum by Doctor Henry Amin 'Awad in 1975. He is a well known Egyptian specialist of skin diseases and has a wide range of interests in Islamic archaeological artefacts; he has written a number of works in this field.","bibliography":"–––––––, *Quand les sciences parlent arabe VIIIe-XVe ap. J.-C./IIe-IXe siècle H*,exhibition catalogue, Cairo, 2003.  \nFarukh, O., *Tarikh al-'ulum 'ind al-Arab \\[History of Arab Sciences\\],* Beirut, 1980.  \nHoncke, S., *Shams al-Arab tastaa' ala al-gharb \\[The Sun of the Arabs Shines on the West\\]* (Trans. Baidun, Farouq Wadso, Kamal), Beirut, 1981.  \nMuntasir, Abd al-Halim, *Tarikh al-'ilm wa dor al-'ulama al-Arab fi takadumihu \\[History of Science and the Role of Arab Scholars in its Advancement\\],* Cairo, 1980.  \n'Awad, Henry Amin, “Al-Jiraha fi al-'asr al-Islami \\[Surgery in the Islamic period\\]”, *Majalat Dirasat al-Athariya al-Islamiya \\[Journal of Islamic Archaeological Studies\\],* Vol. 3, Cairo, 1988.","author":"Al-Sayyed Muhammad Khalifa Hammad","copy_editor":"Majd Musa","translator":"Amal Sachedina (from the Arabic).","translation_copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["cast copper","hospital","medicine","Sciences","surgery","Surgical instrument"],"materials":["Cast copper."]},"707017b0-ac19-5968-8e9b-29b8a4f1aeab":{"name":"Weighing armchair","description":"Weighing armchairs were used for medical purposes. Early metabolism studies were made by weighing the test subjects before and after eating or any other activities. They were also used to weigh handicapped people and old patients who could not stand up. The chair is made of polished brown walnut wood. There are two rows of metal plates in front of the seating area. There is a decoration made by punched holes on the backside of the armchair. There is a wooden footrest attached with metal bars to the main body of the armchair. On the rear side there is a weighing mechanism.","type":"Medical material","holder":"Cerrahpaşa Medical History Museum","dates":"1890–1923","location":"Istanbul","provenance":"Istanbul","copy_editor":"Daniel de la Vega"},"7ef4da57-b989-5c8a-b7bd-e74673870ad0":{"name":"Aqueducts around Jericho No.7","description":"An original plan from the survey of Western Palestine showing the aqueducts bringing water from the wadies Fara, Kelt and Nuwayimeh into the Jericho oasis. These aqueducts date from the Hellenistic era onwards, and were used and added to for centuries well into the Islamic era. Note in particular how they feed into the Umayyad period Khirbet al Mafjar, a huge agricultural estate and palace, and the Mamluk period sugar mill, Tawaheen es Sukkar.","type":"Manuscript map, elevation drawings","holder":"Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF)","owner":"Palestine Exploration Fund","initial_owner":"Palestine Exploration Fund","dates":"AH 1290 / AD 1873","location":"London","place_of_production":"Palestine","method_for_datation":"Recorded dates of the survey","method_for_provenance":"Palestine Exploration Fund project","provenance":"Palestine, Survey of Western Palestine field drawing","obtention":"Created for the PEF during the survey of Western Palestine, 1872–1878","bibliography":"Warren, C., *The Survey of Western Palestine-Jerusalem*, London: Legare Street Press, 2022.","workshop":"Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF)","author":"Felicity Cobbing","copy_editor":"Judy Harter","keywords":["aqueduct","Jericho","Mamluk","photography","sugar mill"],"materials":["Paper","pen and ink","pencil"]},"7f8a48e3-b8ea-55d5-9114-484b7cc5c0a2":{"name":"*Thymus ciliatus* Benth. Presently: *Thymus munbyanus* subsp. coloratus (Boiss. & Reut.) Greuter & Burdet","alternate_name":"Moroccan wild thyme (common name)","description":"Natural History Museums were an important institution for scientific researching, exchange and circulate ideas and natural knowledge. This object is a Herbarium and the specimen was collected in Algeria, on the Lions Mountain, near Oran, in May 1850 by Giles Munby. The aromatic leaves are grey-green, covered with hairs. The pink flowers are crowded into terminal clusters. It is a drought tolerant species from NW Africa (Algeria and Morocco). It is included in the first Centuria of Plantae Algeriensis Exciccatae, distributed to different herbaria. It is used as a medicinal plant in its area of occurrence.","type":"Herbarium specimen","holder":"National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) / Museums of the University of Lisbon","dates":"1850","location":"Lisbon","provenance":"Algeria","author":"Ana Isabel Correia (FCUL/MUHNAC-UL)"},"803bdaca-8310-5038-ad10-5c3aca20a66a":{"name":"Estácio Pharmacy","description":"Estacio Pharmacy in Porto founded in 1883 starts to produce the first pills medication, within the scientific development of the 18th century end. The preparation of manipulated medicines in the apothecaries of the Catholic monasteries  and convents (Boticas de Convento) was  replaced by the production of medicines by Laboratorial Pharmacies.","type":"Pharmacy; medical equipment","holder":"Pharmacy Museum","dates":"c. 1890–1910","location":"Porto","provenance":"Porto","author":"Paula Basso"},"80bf7d8a-befa-587f-8452-207110b874a9":{"name":"Map of the Sykes–Picot Agreement and Historical Note","description":"The lines drawn on the map and the lines drawn in the portrait bear the marks of the same authority: both the border and the identity are shaped by the tip of the pen. During the First World War, Britain and France secretly agreed, with Russia’s approval, to divide the Ottoman Middle East. With a few strokes of the pen, new frontiers were drawn across the lands once linked by the Hijaz Railway. These lines silenced local voices, fragmented communities and reshaped territories. Decisions made behind closed doors by imperial powers set the political, social and cultural course of the region for generations to come.","type":"Map","holder":"Bibliothèque nationale de France (BNF)","dates":"1916","location":"Paris","dimensions":"80 x 72 cm"},"8156c3ae-ba08-58a6-9fc3-bd29004780ae":{"name":"Astrolabe of ‘Umar ibn Yusuf ibn ‘Umar ibn ‘Ali ibn Rasul al-Muzaffari","short_description":"This astrolabe is unusually well documented for an object produced during the medieval period. Its inscription attributes it to a Rasulid prince, ‘Umar ibn Yusuf, a few years before he ascended to the throne (r. 1295–96). ‘Umar compiled a number of scientific treatises, including one on the construction of astrolabes, an autographed version of which is preserved in Cairo and contains certifications by his teachers as to his competence as a maker of such devices and a description of this very piece.","type":"Metalwork","holder":"The Metropolitan Museum of Art","dates":"Dated Hegira 690 / AD 1291","location":"New York","dimensions":"Case (a): Max. W: 19.4cm, Diameter: 15.6cm, D: 0.6cm; Bar with attached nail (b): Max. H: 4.8cm, Max. W: 2.9cm, L: 12.7cm; Net (c): Diameter: 12.7cm; Plates (d-g): Diameter: 12.7cm; Pin (h): L: 4.4cm, W: 1.3cm","provenance":"Yemen","obtention":"Edward C. Moore Collection, Bequest of Edward C. Moore, 1891  \nMaker: ‘Umar ibn Yusuf ibn ‘Umar ibn ‘Ali ibn Rasul al-Muzaffari  \nFormer owner: Edward C. Moore, American, New York 1827–1891 New York, New York (until d. 1891; bequeathed to MMA)","bibliography":"Dimand, Maurice S., \"Specimens of Mohammedan Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art\", *Metropolitan Museum Studies*, 1/1 (November 1928): 107, ill. fig. 8 (b/w).  \nDjebbar, Ahmed, *L'Age d'Or des Sciences Arabes*, Paris: Institut du Monde Arabe, 2005: 98-99, no. 26, ill. fig. 26 (colour).  \nEkhtiar, Maryam, Canby, Shelia R., Haidar, Navina and Soucek, Priscilla P. (eds), *Masterpieces from the Department of Islamic Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art*, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011: 158-159, no. 107, ill. 158 (colour).  \nEttinghausen, Richard (ed), *The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York*, Berlin: Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz Berlin, 1981: 146-147, no. 56, ill. 147 (colour).  \nKing, David A., *Islamic Astronomy and Geography*, Farnham, England: Ashgate, 2012: 156, ill. fig. 9.6.  \nWalker, Daniel S., Ponce Guadián, Arturo, Babaie, Sussan, Carboni, Stefano, Froom, Aimee, Swietochowski, Marie Lukens, Masuya, Tomoko, Daskalakis-Matthews, Annie Christine, Kahil, Abdallah and Kessler, Rochelle, *Arte Islámico del Museo Metropolitano de Arte de Nueva York. Colegio de San Ildefonso, Septiembre de 1994-Enero de 1995*, Mexico City: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, 1994: 206-207, no. 81, ill. 207 (b/w).","copyright":"The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Edward C. Moore Collection, Bequest of Edward C. Moore, 1891","keywords":["astronomical instrument","astronomy","brass","Rasulid","science","scientific object","timekeeping","Yemen"],"materials":["brass","cast and hammered","chased","inlaid with silver","pierced"]},"827d2b0c-14c4-5af4-883c-a966ae4b929e":{"name":"Astrolabe.","description":"This astrolabe has six plates on its obverse side with 12 location points. Only six place-names have been designated: Fez, Marrakesh, Tripoli, Egypt and the holy towns of Mecca and Medina. The whole is covered by a fretted plate equipped with curved needles that refer to 26 stars. The Arabic letters mainly represent alphabetical monograms that are executed in slender 'astronomical' *kufic*\\-style calligraphy, which is so termed because, although it disappeared from use from the AH 12th / AD 18th century, the *kufic* style remained popular for use on astronomical instruments. These monograms are placed according to a Maghrebi classification system.  \nThe reverse side features a small pivoting ruler that has two plates pierced with holes.  \nThe border on the back is divided into two quadrants, followed by the zodiac cycle, and then by a Maghrebi calendar in the Christian tradition, which is another characteristic of astrolabes from the Muslim West. It should be noted that the Muslim calendar was solely a lunar one; the fact that this astrolabe has a Christian calendar shows that, for certain times, the data was calculated in accordance with both the solar month and the lunar month.  \nThis example was kept in a woven yellow ochre pocket bag with black trimming. This type of astrolabe was very common in North Africa in the AH 11th and 12th / AD 17th and 18th centuries. Several feature signatures. Morocco was one of the main centres of production.","short_description":"Astrolabe with six plates on the front indicating location points. An openwork plate fitted with pointers bears alphabetic *kufic* figures arranged in the Maghrebian order. On the back there is a pivoting scale, two dials and a characteristic zodiac arranged according to the Christian system.","type":"Scientific instrument","holder":"National Museum of Cirta","dates":"Hegira 11th–12th century / AD 17th–18th century.","location":"Constantine","dimensions":"Diameter 13.5 cm.","method_for_datation":"Comparison with similarly dated instruments.","method_for_provenance":"The slender *kufic* Maghrebi characters, the Christian calendar and the values of the monograms, distinguish it as a Moroccan astrolabe; furthermore, the names of two Moroccan towns are inscribed onto two tympana; the instrument thus probably comes from either Fez or Marrakesh.","provenance":"Marrakesh or Fez, Morocco.","bibliography":"Hartner, W., “Asturlãb”, *Encyclopédie de l'islam*, Vol. 1, pp.744–9.","author":"Houria Cherid","copy_editor":"Margot Cortez","translator":"Maria Vlotides","translation_copy_editor":"Monica Allen","keywords":["astrolabe","astronomical instrument","datebook","discipline","learning","Maghrebi calendar","monogram","Planetary device","science","symbol"],"materials":["cut-out","engraved and pierced.","Yellow copper"]},"869b29bc-51fe-528b-b3a2-1d11954beeb5":{"name":"The Jami‘ al-Mabadi’ wa’l-Ghayat of al-Marrakushi","description":"Abu ‘Ali al-Hasan al-Marrakushi’s treatise, compiled c. 680 AH (AD 1281–2) in Cairo, is the most important written source for medieval Islamic astronomical instruments and includes discussions of sundials, armillary spheres, astrolabes and quadrants for determining time from solar altitude.  \n  \nIt is copied in *naskh* script with 28 lines to the page.","type":"Treatise / Compendium","holder":"Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, London","owner":"Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art","dates":"AH 1070 (AD 1659–60)","location":"London","dimensions":"30.8cm x 19.2cm","place_of_production":"Iran or India","method_for_datation":"dated AH 1070 (AD 1659–60)","bibliography":"Maddison, F. and Savage-Smith, E., *Science, Tools & Magic. The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, vol. XII. Part One: Body and Spirit Mapping the Universe, London: The Nour Foundation, 1997: cat. 118, pp. 190-2, 200.  \n  \nRogers, J.M., *The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from the Khalili Collection*, London: Thames & Hudson, 2010: cat. 368, p. 311.*","catalogue_holding_link":"https://www.khalilicollections.org/collections/islamic-art/khalili-collection-islamic-art-kitab-al-masalik-wal-mamalik-of-al-istakhri-mss972/","author":"Qaisra Khan","keywords":["metalwork","Ottomans","water","water-scoop"],"materials":["gold and opaque watercolour on paper","Ink","leather binding with flap"]},"885fddf1-77ce-5cb4-849f-e54d4e7280e2":{"name":"Astrolabe","short_description":"This rare astrolabe is considered to be one of the oldest known dated astrolabes from Muslim Spain. It was made by the celebrated Andalusi astrolabist, Muhammad ibn al-Saffar in Cordoba, dated 411 AH / 1020 AD as mentioned in the signature within a square space at the back of its mater. The date follows the Arabic alphanumeric system known as *abjad*. The year is marked by a combination of letters *ta-ya-alif*, that corresponds to *ta* (400), *ya* (10) and *alif* (1), which totals up to 411. The astrolabe contains six plates which correspond to two localities for each plate, among which are Makkah, Damascus, Cairo and Cordoba. The rete, on the other hand, is a new addition from the 17th-century Ottoman Turkey. The maker of this astrolabe, Muhammad ibn al-Saffar (d. 1029) made several astrolabes and other scientific instruments with at least three are known to survive and are today scattered in different museums.","type":"Metalwork","holder":"Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia","dates":"Hegira 411 / AD 1020","location":"Kuala Lumpur","dimensions":"Measurement: L: 19cm (with hinges), D: 12.2cm, T: 1.2cm","provenance":"Spain, Cordoba","materials":["Carved and engraved brass"]},"8c5bd2b7-5767-58df-9aca-d0fdbe20c4ea":{"name":"Portable pharmacy","description":"The Arab world was a territory to discover but with a individual pharmacy travel case in order to face different diseases.","type":"Pharmacy; medical equipment","holder":"Pharmacy Museum","dates":"c. 1880–1900","location":"Lisbon","provenance":"Italy","author":"Paula Basso"},"90784455-0cab-5e8d-b78a-45d2891efa16":{"name":"Universal astrolabe","short_description":"The astrolabe was made by Ahmad ibn al-Sarraj for Muhammad al-Tanukhi in the year of the Hijra 729. The border of the disc is inscribed with the names of four owners, two of them are named *muwaqqit* i.e. astronomers employed for religious purposes. It is the only known specimen of an Islamic universal astrolabe. Ahmad ibn al-Sarraj probably lived in Aleppo in the early 14th century and he is the author of treatises on mathematics and astronomy.","type":"Scientific instrument, metalwork","holder":"Benaki Museum","dates":"Hegira 729 / AD 1328-29","location":"Athens","dimensions":"Diameter 20 cm","provenance":"Syria, probably Aleppo","keywords":["Ahmad ibn al-Sarraj","astrolabe","metalwork"],"materials":["brass"]},"90e620af-4d11-5f42-a4a6-000de55134c6":{"name":"Illusionist Collages to be deciphered obliquely","description":"Two pictures made from coloured paper strips, exactingly juxtaposed and glued in successive layers, and strategically placed to allow different images to appear from distinct angles. Both pictures, which once belonged to the Cabinet of Physics of the Colégio de Nobres were used to illustrate visual effects. A seated young boy playing cards and a man laughing can be seen in one picture. In the other picture one of three images can be observed in succession from different angles: a woman playing a fife, a boy sitting at a table feeding his dog and an old usurer. Both pictures are framed in black painted wood, ornamented with gold motifs and protected with a glass. The set can be removed from the frame by opening a side lock and pulling a ring-pull.","short_description":"Two pictures that when observed from different angles change to another image are an example of optical phenomena of 18th-century physics. In one of the pictures two images appear and in the other three images are discerned.","type":"Didactic instrument","holder":"Museum of Physics, University of Coimbra","owner":"Physics and Science Museum, University of Coimbra","initial_owner":"*Colégio de Nobres* (College of Noblemen)","dates":"Before 1768","location":"Coimbra, Coimbra","dimensions":"H: 28 cm; w: 35 cm; d: 3 cm","place_of_production":"Lisbon (?)","method_for_datation":"These two pictures are mentioned in an inventory of the Colégio de Nobres’, undated. They were probably executed between 1766 and 1768.","provenance":"Cabinet of Physics","obtention":"These pictures once belonged to the Cabinet of Physics of the Colégio de Nobres in Lisbon and were transferred to the University of Coimbra in 1773.","bibliography":"Dalla Bella, G. A., *Index Instrumentorum*, 26 de Julho de 1788.  \nSilva, M, A., \"Um novo museu em Coimbra: O museu pombalino de Física que a reforma pombalina criou em 1772\", *Revista da Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade*, 1940, Vol. IX, No. 1.  \nCarvalho, R., *História do Gabinete de Física da Universidade de Coimbra*, Coimbra, 1978, pp. 540–541.","copyright":"Copyright images: Museu de Física da Universidade de Coimbra.","author":"Ermelinda Antunes","translator":"Manuel Silva Pereira","translation_copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["Colégio de Nobres","education","optics","physics cabinet","science","Scientific instruments","university"],"materials":["paper and glass","Wood"]},"91a520f6-9937-54cd-a224-0a3b83e3587f":{"name":"Azurite","description":"Two aggregates of azurite prismatic crystals with a radial distribution. Azurite is a copper carbonate mineral, of chemical formula Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2. Its name comes from the antiquity for its deep blue colour after the Arabian azure that came from the Persian lazhward. Azurite crystals conform to the monoclinic system of symmetry. In this sample they are prismatic, opaque and their faces present striations. The lustre is vitreous. Azurite was used as a blue pigment for centuries, providing a wide range of blues. It is also used as jewellery and as an ornamental stone. As a secondary mineral found in the oxidized portions of copper deposits, the presence of Azurite is a good surface indicator of the presence of copper ores. This sample was collected at the Touissit Mine, near Oudja, Morocco.","type":"Mineral","holder":"National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) / Museums of the University of Lisbon","dates":"c. 1920","location":"Lisbon","provenance":"Morocco","author":"Liliana Póvoas (MUHNAC-UL)"},"940d00ac-1015-5d53-8ce3-ab0f77662dcf":{"name":"Ain es Sultan, 50 sq. miles","description":"An original field map from the Survey of Western Palestine showing the water courses feeding into the Jordan Valley and River in the Jericho oasis.","type":"Manuscript map","holder":"Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF)","owner":"Palestine Exploration Fund","initial_owner":"Palestine Exploration Fund","dates":"AH 1290 / AD 1873","location":"London","place_of_production":"Palestine","method_for_datation":"Recorded dates of the survey.","method_for_provenance":"Palestine Exploration Fund project.","provenance":"Palestine, Survey of Western Palestine field map","obtention":"Created for the PEF during the Survey of Western Palestine, AH 1872 - 1282 / AD 1872–1878","bibliography":"Warren, C., *The Survey of Western Palestine-Jerusalem*, London: Legare Street Press, 2022.","workshop":"Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF)","author":"Felicity Cobbing","copy_editor":"Judy Harter","keywords":["aqueduct","Jericho","Mamluk","Map","Survey","Umayyad"],"materials":["pen and ink","pencil","Tracing paper"]},"9892afbf-5858-5187-a107-9629faacf1c5":{"name":"Astrolabe","short_description":"This bronze astrolabe was made in the early 19th century during the Qajar period in Iran. For many centuries astrolabes were used as universal instruments by astronomers, surveyors, and astrologers, serving as both a timer and a calendar. However, they were most commonly owned by the wealthy for representative purposes as a decorative object.  \nThe astrolabe consists of three elements: the mater, the rete, and the alidade. The *mater*, a bronze disk which serves as a base, holds the instrument's individual parts together. The front surface of the disk is concave with an ornamented rim; this particular astrolabe has a map on its *mater*. The *rete*, placed on top the *mater*, acts as a star chart, indicating the positions of the stars, and in this instance is decorated with a zodiac ring, engraved flowers, and star names. The alidade can be aligned to measure the altitude of the sun or a star in the sky. The astrolabe is divided into four zones by ornamented, concentric circles; rectangles fill the space between the circles, each of which are filled with numbers and characters. On the other side, the gradation and height scale of the pointed star or point can be determined. To hang or to hold the astrolabe, a movable ring is attached. The front of the base is decorated with an inscription panel; the back side has engraved floral garlands as decoration. This inscription is dedicated to Fath-Ali Shah.","type":"Metalwork","holder":"MKG Museum for Applied Arts","dates":"Hegira ca. 13th century / AD early 19th century","location":"Hamburg","dimensions":"Diameter: 23.5cm","method_for_datation":"Dated through the inscription.","method_for_provenance":"Purchased at the auction Spitzer, Paris, (Cat.No.2892).","provenance":"Iran","obtention":"Purchased in 1893.","bibliography":"King, D. A., *In Synchrony with the Heavens. Studies in Astronomical Timekeeping and Instrumentation in Medieval Islamic Civilization. Instruments of Mass Calculation Theology and Science*, vol. 2, Leiden: Brill, 2005.  \nNeubauer, E. and Sezgin, F., *Wissenschaft und Technik im Islam*, vol. 2, Frankfurt am Main: Institut für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften an der Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe-Universität, 2003.","copy_editor":"Caitlin Link","keywords":["astrolabe","Astrolabium","science"],"materials":["Bronze","Engraving"]},"98b9d80b-38b8-5e8a-a9b7-1a6d821098d6":{"name":"Fragment of a box with a combination lock","short_description":"This combination lock is the work of the astrolabe-maker Muhammad ibn Hamid al-Asturlabi al-Isfahani in 597 H.  \nThe four double dials, each of which can be set in 16 positions, allows for 4,294,967,296 combinations. When the right combination is entered, it releases the inner metal plate, attached both to an external handle and to the locking mechanism itself.","type":"Box, metal work , cast, silver, copper","holder":"The David Collection","dates":"Hegira 597 / AD 1200–1201","location":"Copenhagen","provenance":"Iran, Isfahan?","keywords":["Box","brass","cast","figurative decoration","science","scientific object"],"materials":["Cast and hammered brass","inlaid with silver and copper"]},"9bc4738a-149f-58cd-8ef4-babead8e025c":{"name":"Planispheric Astrolabe","short_description":"A planispheric astrolabe with a flat brass disk, a triangular projection at the top (*kursi*), and two suspension rings. Six plates sit inside it, held in place with an openwork star map (*ankabut*), which is fastened to the ruler on the verso with a horse that projects outward. This astrolabe is exact in scientific detail and contains the requisite inscriptions and tables without superfluity. The front of the instrument contains a movable star chart or rete (*ankabut* in Arabic), with 42 leaves pointing to the stars and with a smaller off-center circle representing the elliptic. Behind the rete is placed a brass disk inscribed with circles of equal altitude for a particular observer. Thirty nested circles, beginning with the horizon and reaching the point of the zenith, indicate circles of equal altitude on the sky, each three degrees higher than the one outside it. Additional arcs on the plate divide the sky in azimuth, and below the horizon parts of still more circles display the equal and unequal hours used for time reckoning.  \nBecause a plate applies to a particular latitude only, a variety of plates are generally provided; an unusually large number, six plates, each inscribed on both sides, are included with this astrolabe. Five of the plates serve for the following pairs of latitudes: 18 and 20 degrees; 22 and 24 degrees; 28 and 30 degrees; 32 and 34 degrees; 36 and 38 degrees (the designer omitted 26 degrees because no major town in the Middle East falls near this latitude). The plates for the latitudes of Persia (32, 34 and 36 degrees) have particularly elaborate decorations surrounding the inscriptions. The sixth plate contains on one side a typical \"tablet of horizons\" and on the other a grid of ecliptic coordinates.  \nUnderneath all the plates, in the so-called \"womb\" of the astrolabe, is a gazetteer containing the longitudes and latitudes of 46 towns; in addition it lists the azimuth of Mecca, and for the innermost series also the direction to Mecca.  \nA moveable index for measuring the altitudes of the sun or stars, called an alidade, is fastened on the back side of the instrument; on this astrolabe the alidade is not decorated and is either unfinished or, more likely, a later replacement. Similarly, the \"horse\" that holds the alidade and plates in place is also a replacement. On the upper part of the back side, within the decorative bracket called the \"*kursi*,\" a hole has been drilled for a magnetic compass, which is now missing.  \nThe entire back surface of the astrolabe combines calligraphy with a compact assortment of astronomical graphs and tables. The finely calibrated upper left quadrant gives sines and cosines, whereas the rectangular \"shadow box\" below the center yields tangents. The almost vertical arcs in the upper right quadrant show the seasonal height of the noon-day sun for various latitudes, and the nearly horizontal arcs give the seasonal height of the sun when it is in the azimuth of Mecca as seen from seven cities: Tus, Yazd, Isfahan, Qazvin, Basra, Baghdad and Shiraz. Semicircular tables on the lower quadrants consist of the decorated names of the zodiacal signs, flanked on the inside by the astrological \"faces\" and lunar mansions and on the outside by the astrological \"limits\" and the list of planets ruling each of the limits. Within this shadow box is a 4 x 10 grid of symbols exhibiting the astrological triplicities of zodiacal signs as well as the planetary lords of the signs by day and by night.","type":"Metalwork","holder":"Saint Louis Art Museum","dates":"Hegira 1127 / AD 1715","location":"Saint Louis","dimensions":"Height: 28.3cm, Width: 18.4cm, Depth: 3.5cm","method_for_datation":"Scholarly review and/or comparison to similar objects from the period.","method_for_provenance":"Astrolabes were used for astronomical and mathematical calculations. This one is signed by two famous astrolabe makers who worked both together and separately in the Iranian city of Isfahan.","provenance":"Isfahan, Iran, Asia","obtention":"Museum Purchase, 1926","keywords":["Asia","astrolabe","brass","Iran","Isfahan","metalwork","Persian"],"materials":["brass"]},"9dd60e86-bef2-5b84-bc64-d726595a61b1":{"name":"Armillary sphere from the Grammar School, Varaždin","description":"An armillary sphere used as an astrological instrument to teach the distances between planets and stars and to measure time in the Jesuit Grammar School in Varaždin. Engraved on the ring of the sphere are the signs of the Zodiac.  \nThe grammar school, founded by the Jesuit order in 1636, continued under the headship of the order until 1773 when Pope Clement XIV extinguished the order with his Bull of Suppression. The curriculum at the school was according to the Jesuit system and teaching was in Latin. Immediately after the suppression of the Jesuits, by decree of Empress Maria Theresia the Bishop of Zagreb, Josip Galjuf, took over the grammar school in Varaždin and other schools in Croatia and Slavonia. He appointed Anton Rajšp, former Jesuit and doctor of theology, as head of the grammar school. The Pauline order took over the school in 1776 but after suppression of the order by decree of Emperor Joseph II, Anton Rajšp became the head of the school again.","short_description":"An armillary sphere used as an astrological instrument to teach the distances between planets and stars and to measure time in the Jesuit Grammar School in Varaždin. Engraved on the ring of the sphere are the signs of the Zodiac.  \nFounded by the Jesuit order in 1636, the school continued under the headship of the order until 1773 when Pope Clement XIV extinguished the order with his Bull of Suppression. By decree of Empress Maria Theresia the Bishop of Zagreb, Josip Galjuf, took over the grammar school and other schools in Croatia and Slavonia. He appointed Anton Rajšp, former Jesuit and doctor of theology, as head of the grammar school.","type":"Timepiece","holder":"City Museum, Varaždin","dates":"First half of the 18th century","location":"Varaždin, North-West Croatia","dimensions":"H: 30 cm; diameter: 32 cm","method_for_datation":"The object is dated by an inscription.","provenance":"From the former Jesuit Grammar School in Varaždin","obtention":"From the former Jesuit Grammar School in Varaždin.","bibliography":"Klemm, M., *Stari satovi u muzejima sjeverozapadne Hrvatske* (Old clocks in the Museum of North-West Croatia), exhibition catalogue, Varaždin, 1990.  \n*Od svagdana do blagdana. Barok u Hrvatskoj. Katalog izložbe* (From Everyday to Holidays: Baroque in Croatia), exhibition catalogue, Zagreb, 1993, p. 317.  \nTežak, S., *Povijesni pregled varaždinskih škola u 18. stoljeću. 300 godina Uršulinki u Varaždinu* (Historical Survey of Schools in Varaždin in the Eighteenth Century: Three Hundred Years of the Ursulines in Varaždin), Zagreb-Varaždin, 2003.","author":"Ljerka Šimunić","translator":"Nikolina Jovanović","translation_copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["astronomical instrument","astronomy","education","Jesuit","Jesuit Grammar School","religious schools","science","scientific instrument","scientific object","teaching"],"materials":["brass","Paper","Wood"]},"9f4dd257-a6bc-5852-b6b1-45af52c3e4f7":{"name":"Military Medical kit of Carol Davila","description":"In the second half of the 19th century, French doctor Carol Davila played an important role in the development of the Romanian medical system. He came to Bucharest in 1853, sent by the French government at the request of Wallachian prince Barbu Stirbei who needed a specialist to form well trained Romanian doctors. Davila was named medic of the army and later general inspector of the country’s sanitary service and he was the founder of a medicine and pharmacy school. Among other decorations he received for his activity, he was awarded two Ottoman ones (the Orders of Medjidie and of Osmanie), the first for curing Ottoman soldiers who contracted cholera during the Ottoman occupation of Wallachia (1855), and the other for treating wounded Ottoman soldiers during the Russian-Ottoman war of 1877-1878.","type":"Medical kit","holder":"National Museum of Romanian History","dates":"1877–1878","location":"Bucharest","provenance":"France"},"9f4ec4b3-5bb8-51d7-b82f-ba92ec74033b":{"name":"Spoon.","alternate_name":"Medical implement to press down the tongue.","description":"An implement that resembles a spoon, with one end that has a flattened oval shape. The object was probably used by doctors during the examination of the mouth and throat and in the course of surgery to remove the tonsils. Excavations which took place in the city of Fustat – the first capital of Islamic Egypt established by Amr ibn al-'As in the year AH 21 / AD 641 – revealed a large cache of surgical instruments, considered to be the oldest extant of their kind. Instruments similar to those which were uncovered in Fustat have appeared in the descriptions of the surgeon from al-Andalus, Abu al-Qasim Khalaf bin al-'Abbas al-Zahrawi (AH 329–404 / AD 940–1013), in his surgical encyclopaedia, *Al-Tasrif liman 'ajaz 'an al-Taalif*, considered the richest and largest source of surgical knowledge of the period, and an important medical and surgical reference book in the centuries that followed. The encyclopaedia contains more than 150 illustrations of surgical instruments with detailed descriptions about using them in different surgical operations.","short_description":"Muslim physicians knew surgery and practised it. This tool demonstrates that physicians gave much importance to medicine and medical tools in various areas of treatment and how they developed them. A detailed description of these tools can be found in the book of al-Zahrawi, an Andalusian surgeon.","type":"Spoon, copper","holder":"Museum of Islamic Art","dates":"Hegira 3rd century / AD 9th century.","location":"Cairo","dimensions":"Length 12.5 cm.","method_for_datation":"The implement is dated based on information from various historical sources that attest to the flourishing state of medicine and associated sciences during the Abbasid period.","method_for_provenance":"It is likely that the object was produced in Egypt, since it was discovered in the city of Fustat. Furthermore, the flourishing state of the sciences, especially medicine, and the numerous hospitals in Egypt during this time make an Egyptian provenance likely.","provenance":"Egypt.","obtention":"The object was donated to the museum by Doctor Henry Amin 'Awad in 1975. As a scholar he is greatly interested in the study of human heritage, especially the Islamic arts, and he has made a number of studies in this field.","bibliography":"Abd al-Rahim, Abd al-Rahim Khalaf, *Al-Adawat Jirahiya wa al-Awani al-Tibiya fi al-'asr al-Islami min al-Qarn al-Awal hatta al-Qarn al-Tasi' lil Hijra \\[Surgical Instruments and Medical Vessels in the Islamic Period from the First Century to the Ninth Century\\],* MA thesis, University of Cairo, 1999.  \n–––––––, **Quand les sciences parlent arabe VIIIe-XVe ap. J.-C./IIe-IXe siècle H*,* Cairo, exhibition catalogue, 2003.  \nHoncke, *S.,Shams al-Arab tastaa' ala al-gharb \\[Sun of the Arabs Shines on the West\\] (Trans.* Baidun, Farouq Wadso, Kamal), *Beirut, 1981.*  \n'Awad, H. A., “Al- Jiraha fi al-'asr al-Islami \\[Surgery in the Islamic Period\\]”, *Majalat al-Dirasat al-Islamiya \\[Journal of Islamic Studies\\],* Vol. 3, Cairo, 1988, p.273.","author":"Al-Sayyed Muhammad Khalifa Hammad","copy_editor":"Majd Musa","translator":"Amal Sachedina (from the Arabic).","translation_copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["cast copper","Copper","hospital","medical instrument","medicine","Sciences","surgery","Surgical instrument"],"materials":["Cast copper."]},"a3cbcd9b-cf11-5b68-9f33-19a8c46c9df8":{"name":"Map of the Ottoman province (vilayet) of Damascus marking the Hijaz Railway line in red.","description":"The map is part of the Pocket Atlas of the Ottoman Lands: The Geographical and Statistical Conditions of the Ottoman State. It depicts the territories extending from the Hama region in the north through Damascus, the Hauran, and Jordan to the northern Hijaz. A red line begins at Hama and continues southward, representing the Hijaz Railway. A western branch extends toward the Mediterranean coast, corresponding to the railway connection between the main line and Haifa. The principal heading reads سوريه ولايتى, Vilayet of Syria. The vilayet was the principal provincial administrative unit established under the Ottoman provincial reforms of the nineteenth century. Vilayets were divided into sanjaks, and beneath the title the map identifies the four sanjaks of Damascus, Hama, Hauran, and Karak.","type":"Map, pocket atlas","holder":"Wolf-Dieter Lemke Collection","owner":"Wolf-Dieter Lemke Collection","dates":"AH 1324 / AD 1905","location":"Berlin","dimensions":"Height: 14,2 cm; width: 9,3 cm","provenance":"Collection of Wolf-Dieter Lemke, Berlin","bibliography":"Masters, Bruce, *The Arabs of the Ottoman Empire, 1516–1918: A Social and Cultural History*, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.","copy_editor":"Danielle Morcom","keywords":["Hijaz","Map","Syria","trainline","Türkiye"],"materials":["Paper","printed coloured pocket atlas"]},"a43858e3-8e59-51e3-a4ad-791bad0297de":{"name":"AC generator","description":"In 1891, Charles Brown of Great Britain and Walter Boveri of Germany started an electrical engineering business in canton of Aargau. During its first year, Brown, Boveri & Co. had 70 employees. Only ten years later, that number had grown to over 1500. This steep increase was partly due to the success of the alternating current generator which the company began to produce in 1895. Europe was just discovering the benefits of electricity and demand was growing by the day. Switzerland had been an immigration country for generations and offered its new residents opportunities to realise their entrepreneurial dreams. In addition to Brown and Boveri, these immigrant entrepreneurs included the Austrian Carl Franz Bally, the founder of the shoe factory that bears his name, as well as the German pharmacist Henri Nestlé. Other famous brands like Rolex, Maggi, and Hero also owe their existence to the initiative of immigrants. The Jacobs, Hayeks, and Huxleys of this world continue to drive the Swiss economy to this day – just like a powerful generator.","type":"Generator","holder":"Swiss National Museum","owner":"Regionalwerke AG Baden","dates":"1895","location":"Zurich","dimensions":"H: 123,5cm, W: 182cm, D: 109,5cm, Weight: 2,5 tons","method_for_datation":"Production of this Type of Generator began in 1895 in Baden","provenance":"Switzerland, Baden, canton of Aargau","obtention":"Depository of Regionalwerke AG Baden, 2009","workshop":"Brown Boveri SA","keywords":["Baden","Boveri","brown","Electricity","Generator"],"materials":["copper","steel"]},"a8a7b007-ba46-517e-94a2-c79734028dc9":{"name":"Surgical scalpel.","description":"A surgical scalpel with a long handle tends in a sharp blade; the blade is less thick and less narrow than the handle. Excavations which took place in the city of Fustat – the first capital of Islamic Egypt established by Amr ibn al-'As in the year AH 21 / AD 641 – revealed a large cache of surgical instruments, considered to be the oldest extant of their kind. This collection demonstrates Islamic Egypt's remarkable progress in the fields of medicine and surgery.  \nThe Muslims excelled in the field of surgery from the early Islamic period. Historical sources and manuscripts provide information about the advancement of medical surgery in all parts of the Islamic world. Perhaps the doctor from al-Andalus, Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Zahrawi (AH 329–404 / AD 940–1013), is the most famous of the Muslim surgeons. He advised that surgeons should be familiar with anatomy and he emphasised the necessity of dissection as a means of acquiring knowledge of the human body, whereby the reasons for death could be ascertained and the benefits of seeing similar cases were exploited. Al-Zahrawi's most famous work is his encyclopaedia, *Al-Tasrif liman 'ajaz 'an al-Taalif,* which describes and illustrates more than 150 surgical instruments. When undertaking surgical operations Muslim surgeons took special care to sterilise the site of the operation; Al-Zahrawi demonstrated several ways to make a sterile environment in his encyclopaedia.  \nSurgical operations included the use of general anaesthesia. For example an anaesthetic sponge was used; soaked in hashish oil, opium, ray-grass, henbane and belladonna; it was then dried in the sun. When the time came it was moistened and placed on the nose of the patient where the tranquilizing substances were absorbed by the patient's tissues sending him into a deep sleep, thereby ensuring that the patient remained free from pain during surgery. Muslim surgeons used surgical thread made from animal gut such as cat gut. Al-Zahrawi taught his students how to sew up wounds with magical interior-stitching similar to that used in cosmetic surgery today. Al-Zahrawi's encyclopaedia covers cosmetic surgery, such as rectifying disfigurements to the lip, ear, nose, and he discusses surgery on the blood vessels. Muslim doctors practiced procedures of setting fractured bones and used splints and dressings for the treatment of fractured skulls, arms and shoulders. Perhaps the huge numbers of medical and surgical instruments extant demonstrate the extraordinary progress in the field of medicine and surgery in the Islamic world in the early period.","short_description":"This scalpel, discovered in the city of Fustat among a large collection of surgical tools, is proof of the wide variety of tools used by Muslim physicians in treatment and surgery.","type":"Scalpel, copper","holder":"Museum of Islamic Art","dates":"Hegira 3rd century / AD 9th century.","location":"Cairo","dimensions":"Length 16.5 cm.","method_for_datation":"The dating of this scalpel is based on information available in historical sources which relates to progress in the fields of medicine and surgery in Egypt during the Abbasid period. Furthermore, by comparison; in analysing illustrations of surgical instruments in al-Zahrawi's encyclopaedia, *al-Tasrif liman 'ajaz 'an al-Taalif* along with other contemporary medical works, with the instrument seen here.","method_for_provenance":"It is likely that the scalpel, along with the other surgical instruments discovered during archaeological excavations that took placed in the city of Fustat, were made in Egypt for there are no indications from the historical sources that instruments such as these were imported from outside the region. This is in addition to the fact that the fields of medicine and surgery flourished in Egypt during this period.","provenance":"Egypt.","obtention":"This object was discovered during the course of archaeological excavations, which took place at Fustat.","bibliography":"–––––––, **Quand les sciences parlent arabe VIIIe-XVe ap. J.-C./IIe-IXe siècle H**,exhibition catalogue,Cairo, 2003.  \n–––––––, “Catalogue Ishamat al-Hadara al-'Arabiya wa al-Islamiya fi al-'ulum al-Tibiya \\[Catalogue of the Contributions of Arab Civilization to the Medical Sciences\\]” *Makhtutat Dar al-Kutub al-Masriya \\[Manuscripts of the Dar al-Kutub al-Masriiya\\], Cairo, 2002.*  \nSayour, S. A., “La Medicina en la Epoca Islamica”, *Prisma, Magazine of the Ministry of Culture,* Cairo, No. 12, 2001, p.49.  \n'Awad, H. A., “Al-Jiraha fi al-'asr al-Islami \\[Surgery in the Islamic Period\\]”, *Majalat Dirasat al-Athariya al-Islamiya \\[Journal of Islamic Archaeological Studies\\],* Vol. 3, Cairo, 1988.","author":"Salah Sayour","copy_editor":"Majd Musa","translator":"Amal Sachedina (from the Arabic).","translation_copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["Copper","cosmetic","medicine","scalpel","surgery","Surgical instrument"],"materials":["Cast copper."]},"a8f4d9df-4a01-55fb-98f5-9b27f994af97":{"name":"Pharmacy bottles","description":"To travel with «quina» – cinchona plant – to the non European territories was really mandatory for health reasons, specially to attack malaria disease.","type":"Bottles; medical equipment","holder":"Pharmacy Museum","dates":"c. 1890–1910","location":"Lisbon","provenance":"Germany","author":"Paula Basso"},"a9f4d4b8-28f3-5859-9dd0-a35478d37a9f":{"name":"Planispheric astrolabe","short_description":"This planispheric astrolabe was, as an inscription on its back states, made by Hamid ibn al-Khidr al-Khujandi, an eminent astronomer and mathematician at the court of the Buyid ruler Fakhr al-Dawla (r. AH 366-387 /AD 977-997). The rete of this particular astrolabe has markers for 33 stars, six of which are shown by the beaks of stylised birds. Markings on the back suggest that it may have been designed for use in Baghdad, possibly by another member of the Buyid family.","type":"Scientific instrument, metalwork","holder":"Museum of Islamic Art","dates":"Hegira 374 / AD 984-985","location":"Doha","dimensions":"Height: 21.1 cm, width:15.1 cm, depth:3.1 cm","provenance":"Iran, Rayy or Iraq, Baghdad","obtention":"Martine-Marie-Pol, Comtesse de Béhague (1870–1939); Jean-Louis, Marquis de Ganay (1922–2013) until  \n1970; Alain Brieux (1922–1985) in Paris until 1976; Jasim al-Homaizi Collection until 1999; sold to Qatar Museums","bibliography":"Allan, James W., *Metalwork Treasures from the Islamic Courts*, London: The Islamic Art Society, 2002.  \n  \nGonnella, Julia, et al, *Museum of Islamic Art: The Collection*, London: Thames & Hudson, 2022.  \n  \nSeipel, Joseph H., *God is Beautiful and Loves Beauty: The object in Islamic Art and Culture*, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013.  \n  \nSoueif, Ahdaf, *Reflections on Islamic Art*, Doha: Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing, 2011.","author":"Tara Desjardins","keywords":["astrolabe","astronomy","Buyid","Hamid ibn al-Khidr al-Khujandi","Iran","Iraq","metalwork","science"],"materials":["Black compund","brass","Casting","Engraving","Iron","openwork","Riveting"]},"aa3d92ab-8ac6-563e-ac59-78aeb1947c64":{"name":"Snow cannon","description":"«Switzerland’s peaks are virtually devoid of snow, but in Savognin the snow falls from clear skies» wrote the newspaper Bündner Tagblatt on 9 December 1978. On that day, ten snow cannons provided enough snow for a three-kilometre piste on a green slope in the canton of Graubünden. When the first major artificial snow-blowing system in Europe went into operation, this marked the dawn of a new era in winter tourism. The snow cannons that caused a stir at the time are taken for granted today in every skiing resort of any size. Snow cannons were invented in Canada in 1940, when a team of researchers was studying the icing up of jet engines in a wind tunnel. While spraying water into a running turbine at sub-zero temperatures, the scientists had to contend with an undesirable side-effect: snow, which kept accumulating at the rear of the wind tunnel. What was an annoyance to those early researchers later became one of the biggest innovations in sports.","type":"Snow cannon","holder":"Swiss National Museum","owner":"Swiss Confederation","dates":"1978","location":"Zurich","dimensions":"H: 60cm, L: 48.5cm, W: 28cm, Diameter: 9.5cm","method_for_datation":"Documents","provenance":"Savognin, Switzerland","obtention":"Donated in 2003","keywords":["Canton of Graubünden","Canton of Grison","Climate Change","Savognin","Skiing","Snow","Snow cannon","Sports","Switzerland"],"materials":["Aluminium pipe with two jets"]},"aac7ff4c-14c4-5608-abb0-fe70488c219b":{"name":"Breguet travel clock","description":"Organisers of major sporting events, mountaineers, and even astronauts rely on Swiss timepieces today. In the past, military strategists who made history swore by Swiss clocks. For example, Napoleon Bonaparte used a pocket watch by Abraham-Louis Breguet at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. The clients of the watchmaker from the canton of Neuchâtel included not only the French general, but also his opponents: Both the Duke of Wellington and Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher devised their battle strategies with Breguet watches in their pockets. Apparently Breguet was more concerned with sales than with Swiss neutrality! Incidentally, Napoleon was a real Breguet fan and owned a total of three Breguet timepieces. The only one that has survived, however, is a travel clock kept in the Swiss National Museum.","type":"Clock","holder":"Swiss National Museum","owner":"Swiss Confederation","dates":"AD 1796","location":"Zurich","dimensions":"H: 11cm, W: 7,8cm, D: 5,8cm","method_for_datation":"Documents","provenance":"France, Paris","obtention":"Donated in 1991","keywords":["Abraham-Louis Breguet","Clock","Napoleon Bonaparte","Paris"],"materials":["Bronze","gilded"]},"ab91307f-d3d5-5f2a-88d0-9f2eb6934a29":{"name":"Qibla directional plate.","description":"Muslims must face the *qibla*, the direction of the Ka'ba in the city of Mecca, while praying. They therefore often need instruments to help pinpoint the direction of the Ka'ba. This plate is one such instrument. Its base is a round and flat area that has a circle of semi-vertical columns on it. Recorded around the centre of the circle is the name of the craftsperson and the place in which it was made (“made by Sayyid Thabit in Damascus”). Emanating from the centre towards the rim are tables in the form of a sequence of rings. These rings contain the names of a number of cities in three bands (Damascus, Baghdad, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Tehran, Kabul …), in addition to alphabets corresponding to numbers that indicate degrees of angles. The inner circumference of the plate's rim is marked by units, each of which is equivalent to five degrees and also the four cardinal directions (east, west, north, south), which are set in half circles.  \nThe exterior surface of the rim contains a two-line explanation in Arabic on how to use the instrument. In between these two lines are four medallions in which it is indicated that the plate was made by order of Sultan Salim I \"the triumphant champion of justice and supreme ruler \\[khaqan\\] who is the son of the supreme ruler, king of the two lands and the two seas, and servant of the two sanctuaries, may God immortalise his rule\". All this information is registered in black *kufic* script on a white background, and is covered with a transparent glaze.","short_description":"The scientific diagram inscribed on this ceramic dish served an important function. A schematic arrangement of city names and trigonometric data help the user to establish the orientation of the Ka'ba in Mecca and thus the direction of prayer. It was especially useful when travelling.","type":"Ottoman ceramics, glazed","holder":"National Museum of Damascus","initial_owner":"Sultan Salim I (also Selim, r. AH 918–26 / AD 1512–20).","dates":"Hegira 918–26 / AD 1512–20.","location":"Damascus","dimensions":"Width 3.5 cm, diameter 18.5 cm.","method_for_datation":"The inscription on the plate indicates that it was made by order of Sultan Salim I, (r. 918–26 / 1512–20).","method_for_provenance":"The inscription on the plate indicates that it was made in Damascus.","provenance":"Damascus, Syria.","obtention":"Purchased in 1935.","bibliography":"Cluzan, S. et al (eds), *Syrie: Mémoire et Civilisation*, Paris, 1994.  \nPorter, V., *Medieval Syrian Pottery*, Oxford, 1981.  \nSoustiel, J., and Kiefer, C., *La céramique islamique*, Fribourg, 1985, p.441.  \nWatson, O., *Ceramics from Islamic Lands*, London, 2004.","linkcatalogs":"IAM_TR_EN_001","author":"Mona al-Moadin","translator":"Hilary Kalmbach (from the Arabic)","translation_copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["Baghdad","ceramics","Constantinople","Damascus","determining qibla direction","earthenware","Jerusalem","Ka'ba","Kabul","Mecca","prayer","Prayers","qibla","Sayyid Thabit","Sultan Salim (Selim)","Tehran","transparent glaze"],"materials":["and a transparent glaze.","Earthenware with black and blue paint on a white base"]},"b4c26e22-f7f2-5d49-aaea-80ad69f658de":{"name":"Silver pocket watch with chain and key","short_description":"The enamelled clock face of this pocket watch has an image of a Hijaz-railway engine and the Ottoman coat-of-arms. This was likely to have been made for an Ottoman official involved in the building of the railway.","type":"Watch; pocket watch","holder":"Khalili Family Trust – Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage Collection","dates":"Early 20th century AD","location":"London","dimensions":"Diameter: 5.5cm; bow & chain: 38cm","method_for_datation":"The Hijaz Railway was constructed between 1900 and 1908.","provenance":"Turkey","bibliography":"Nicholson, J., *The Hejaz railway*, London: Stacey International, 2005.","author":"Qaisra Khan","keywords":["Clock","engineering","hajj","Hijaz","Hijaz Railway","Holy place","Ka'ba","Mecca","Medina","Mosque","pilgrimage","Pilgrimage route","prayer","Prophet Muhammad","Religion","silver","travel"],"materials":["enamel","Silver"]},"b588456d-6066-57a5-856e-b4b1770386d5":{"name":"Plaster cast panel for microbiological education","description":"Maquettes were used in medical education in the Ottoman Empire before a western education system was adopted. The maquettes were commissioned abroad and before working on cadavers, models and moulages were used in classes. Maquettes prepared by Dr. Auzoux in Paris were first taken to Marseilles in boxes, then shipped to İstanbul from there. This example was made of plaster and contains examples of amoeba. There are Roman numerals under each example. On the lower left of the panel one can read \"Établissements Auzoux, Rue de Vaugirard, Paris”.","type":"Medical material","holder":"Cerrahpaşa Medical History Museum","dates":"1820–1840","location":"Istanbul","provenance":"France","copy_editor":"Daniel de la Vega"},"b755f317-188a-5599-8821-1c6c3bb2c776":{"name":"*The Anatomical Waxes of the Istituto delle Scienze*","alternate_name":"Wax statue representing a naked man (Adam); wax statue representing a naked woman (Eve); wax statue representing a skinned man (“scorticato”); wax statue of a man showing superficial and deep muscles; wax statue of a man showing deep muscles; wax skele...","description":"The eighteenth-century was an especially lucky age for Bolognese wax artists thanks to the renovated intellectual life in town. Originally for the creation of ephemera as well as for long-lasting works. This art was generally employed for scientific purposes, by doctors, as they needed to study the delicate intricacies of the human body. In 1742 Pope Benedict XIV commissioned Ercole Lelli, a professor of the local Academy of Fine Arts, to create a group of anatomical waxes for study purposes for the room of Anatomy in the *Istituto delle Scienze*. Lelli had to mould eight statues on natural scale including a naked man and woman, and six skinned figures in order to emphasise the different muscular layers. The series is composed of more than 40 anatomical waxes representing muscles and bones. A century later professor Michele Medici wrote that Lelli used two human skeletons for his skinned men, arranged and modelled the different muscles with a mixture of hemp, wax, bran and turpentine then moulded the muscles in the right places, from life. Lelli said that the human body, known through the dissection of corpses, was the main interest of artistic anatomy. Every single detail was carefully studied and analysed; even the statues attitudes, especially in the nudes, were made to emphasise the superficial muscles.","short_description":"The eight anatomical statues realised by Ercole Lelli, include the 52 anatomical waxes (30 of them are about muscles and 20 about bones). Lelli planned the furnishings of the anatomy room; designing elegant cabinets with glass panes, perfect for housing the anatomical waxes, alternating with showcases where the statues could be easily studied from each point of view.","type":"Anatomical waxes","holder":"Musei di Palazzo Poggi, Anatomical waxes Museum, Institute of normal anatomy, University of Bologna","owner":"University of Bologna","initial_owner":"*Istituto delle Scienze*","dates":"1742–1751","location":"Bologna, Emilia-Romagna","dimensions":"Adam: h cm. 161; Eve: h cm. 147; skinned man: h cm. 163; Statue with deep and superficial muscles: h cm. 158; Statue with deep muscles: h cm. 154; Statue with skeletal muscles: h cm. 164; female skeleton: h cm. 163; male skeleton: h cm. 182","place_of_production":"Bologna","method_for_datation":"Documents.","provenance":"Museo di “notomia umana” – *Istituto delle Scienze*","obtention":"In original place.","bibliography":"*I materiali dell'Istituto delle Scienze*, Bologna, 1979.  \n*Le cere anatomiche bolognesi del Settecento*(exhibition catalogue), Bologna, 1981.  \nResidori, G. in *Rappresentare il corpo. Arte e anatomia da Leonardo all'Illuminismo* (exhibition catalogue) (ed. G. Olmi), Bologna, 2004, pp. 316-318.  \nFalabella, S. “Lelli Ercole”, *Dizionario biografico degli italiani*, p. 64, Rome, 2005, pp. 333-335.","workshop":"Bolognese wax school","author":"Ilaria Negretti","translator":"Antonella Mampieri","translation_copy_editor":"Lisa Kelman","keywords":["Anatomical waxes","anatomy","Benedict XIV","Ercole Lelli","Institute of Sciences","medicine","science","Sciences","surgery"],"materials":["52 anatomical waxes: wax","Adam","Eve","female skeleton: human bones","male skeleton: human bones","metal","skinned man","statue with muscles","wax"]},"b9037025-526c-5ec9-ad5b-a435eec55808":{"name":"Travel notebook for meteorological observations","description":"Travel notebook which belonged to Portuguese Navy’s Commander Hermenegildo Capelo, used during the expedition to the interior of the African continent in 1884/1885, from Angola’s coast to the Mozambique’s shore, along with the Portuguese Navy’s Commander Roberto Ivens. The main objective for the Portuguese expeditionary voyages in Africa was to gather all sorts of information: meteorological data, course of rivers, local inhabitants and populations, among others.","type":"Logbook","holder":"Maritime Museum","dates":"1884","location":"Lisbon","author":"Bruno Gonçalves Neves"},"bac9e0ba-15e5-5bf5-a004-180b8c11e31d":{"name":"Astrolabe","short_description":"The astrolabe is an astronomical instrument device that Muslims inherited from the Hellenistic world and then passed on to medieval Europe. According to its inscriptions, this handsome gilt brass astrolabe was made in Seville, in southern Spain. Like all such instruments, it was designed to measure the altitude of the stars, sun or moon, and to establish different astronomical and topographical associations without resorting to calculations or formulas. It was especially valuable for timekeeping, as the Muslim times of prayer are astronomically determined. In addition to being functional, the astrolabe was also intended to be beautiful. This example is unusual in that it seems to have been altered nearly 70 years after it was made, possibly in Egypt or Syria; Seville had by that time already fallen to the Christian reconquest.","type":"Tools and Equipment","holder":"Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)","dates":"Hegira 624 / AD 1226-1227","location":"Los Angeles","dimensions":"21.3 x 14 x 2.9cm","method_for_datation":"According to its inscriptions, the astrolabe was made by Muhammad ibn ‘Abda al-‘Aziz al Khama’iri in Seville in Hegira 624/AD 1226-7, who may have a familial relationship with another Spanish astrolabist also associated with Seville. The rete of the astrolabe was later altered by the astrolabist Ibrahim in Mamluk Egypt or Syria in Hegira 693/AD 1293-4, based on an additional inscription.","method_for_provenance":"Its Arabic inscriptions indicate it was made in Seville.","provenance":"Spain","obtention":"Carolyn Merchant (1936 - ), Berkeley, CA, until 2003 (gifted to): LACMA, gift of Carolyn Merchant.","bibliography":"Komaroff, Linda, *Islamic Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art*, Rev. ed., Los Angeles: Museum Associates, 2005: 24, fig. 20.  \nKomaroff, Linda, *Lo Terrenal y lo divino: Arte islámico siglos VII al XIX Colección del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Angeles*, Santiago, Chile: Centro Cultural La Moneda, 2015: 90.  \nKomaroff, Linda, *Beauty and Identity: Islamic Art from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art*, Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2016: 110, 122-123.","author":"LACMA Staff","keywords":["astronomy","metalwork","Muslim Spain","prayer","Reconquista","Religion","science","scientific instrument","timekeeping"],"materials":["Gilt copper alloy"]},"c072d700-9ae2-5214-ad10-69e3cb6824fa":{"name":"Film camera of the Manaki brothers","alternate_name":"Film camera of Charls Trade Company, serial no. 300","description":"Janaki (1878–1945) and Milton (1880–1964) Manaki were born in Bitola and went on to become pioneers of Macedonian film and the first filmmakers in the Balkans. The Manaki brothers shot their first film merely 10 years after the Lumiere brothers. In 1905, they shot their grandmother Despina spinning wool with women from the neighbourhood. Their first film of ethnographic value was shot soon after. It documents celebration of the feast of St. Cyril and Methodius in front of the Church in Bitola devoted to these saints. In their films, the Manaki brothers strived to document visually events from everyday life and to frame them as real works of art. In 1921, they projected the first film in the open-air arena at the Shirok Sokak Street in Bitola.","type":"Camera; part of filming equipment","holder":"The Archive of the City of Bitola","dates":"1905","location":"Bitola","author":"Aco Kimovski (Archive of the City of Bitola)","copy_editor":"Daniel de la Vega"},"c55a0ee3-358d-5f51-ab63-42f3d19fc7db":{"name":"Astrolabe","short_description":"Brass astrolabe signed by the maker, Muhammed Khalil bn Hasan `Ali, and the calligrapher, Muhammed Baqir Isfahani, and dated AH 1095 / AD 1634-84.","type":"Scientific instrument, metalwork","holder":"Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah","dates":"Hegira 1095 / AD 1683–1684","location":"Kuwait City","provenance":"Iranian world","keywords":["astrolabe","astronomy","metalwork","science"]},"c64f3835-f9f7-5723-9b30-b413f5f0111c":{"name":"*Homarus hakelensis* Fraas 1878 and clupeomorph fishes","description":"*Homarus* is as genus of marine crustacean decapode (lobster). Its first pair of legs is transformed into big claws showing dimorphism (one specialised into a crushing claw and the other into a cutting claw). In the fossil register we can find about eight species of Homarus. But nowadays only two exist: *Homarus gammarus* (European lobster) and *Homarus americanus* (American lobster). *Homarus hakelensis* is a fossil species described from specimens found at the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) site of Hakel, Lebanon. In this plate we can also find some specimens of clupeomorph fishes. In this group of teleosts, that date back to the Early Cretaceous (c. 140 million years) belongs, today, the herring, the sardine and the anchovy, for example. They are generally small silvery marine fishes.","type":"Fossil","holder":"National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) / Museums of the University of Lisbon","dates":"Cenomanian, Upper Cretaceous (c. 95 million years)","location":"Lisbon","provenance":"Hakel, Lebanon","author":"Liliana Póvoas (MUHNAC-UL)"},"d66e9193-b359-50c2-9fea-50514b0595be":{"name":"Reflecting circle","alternate_name":"Borda's circle","description":"Reflecting circle wich belong to Portuguese Navy’s Commander Hermenegildo Capelo. It works on the principle of double reflection, like the octant and sextant, with the advantage of its limbus corresponding to a full circle, making possible the measure of angles of any amplitude. This instrument was used in the “Portuguese Scientific Expedition to the Southern Africa’s Hinterland”, in 1877.","type":"Borda's circle; scientific instrument","holder":"Maritime Museum","dates":"19th century","location":"Lisbon","author":"Bruno Gonçalves Neves"},"da60db2e-b27e-5914-9284-ae2e7d5378d4":{"name":"Astrolabe-quadrant","description":"One side of the instrument carries a Prophatius astrolabe-quadrant for latitude 41°, with an unequal hour diagram (horary quadrant) above. The other side is a sine-cosine quadrant with arcs of sine and versed sine. There are brief instructions in Turkish and Arabic on the sides and edges. The maker’s name and the date appear on each side, with slight variations in some details of the signature. The *nisbah* of the maker, al-Ufi, indicates that he was from Of, a small town on the Black Sea.","type":"Scientific instrument","holder":"Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art","owner":"Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art","dates":"AH 1256 (AD 1840–41)","location":"London","dimensions":"16.8cm x 12.8 x 3cm; radius of quadrant: 12.5cm","place_of_production":"Istanbul","method_for_datation":"Dated AH 1256 (AD 1840–41)","bibliography":"Maddison, F. and Savage-Smith, E., *Science, Tools & Magic. The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, vol. XII. Part One: Body and Spirit Mapping the Universe, London: The Nour Foundation, 1997: cat. 156, pp. 266-268.*","catalogue_holding_link":"https://www.khalilicollections.org/collections/islamic-art/khalili-collection-islamic-art-astrolabe-quadrant-sci40/","author":"Qaisra Khan","materials":["brass socket for the plumb-line","inscribed in red and black ink under a yellowish varnish","solid walnut","the lead weight for the plumb-line is housed in the instrument"]},"de4802a1-86e2-5973-8765-e8cc4ee04f98":{"name":"Planispheric astrolabe.","description":"The maker and final destination of this flat astrolabe, which is in reasonably good condition, are both known. All of the elements that make up a planispheric astrolabe have survived: the main part or mater; the alidade on the back of the instrument; three tympans or superposed disks on top of the mater; the rete or mobile openwork plaque (*shabaka*) representing the map of fixed stars turning around the earth; and the throne, a triangular piece for hanging it. It would have been one of the first portable astrolabes to have been made in the West on the model of the well known al-Zarqali astrolabe from Toledo, known in Europe as the Azarchel. The name of the maker is engraved on the back of the throne, and is none other than the famous Seville craftsman Muhammad ibn al-Futuh al-Khamayri, from whom four further astrolabes are known. An inscription in cursive characters on the back of the mater names the mosque to which it is dedicated: the Andalusian Mosque in Fez.  \nAn essential scientific instrument used by ancient astronomers to determine prayer times, the position of stars and horoscopes, this astrolabe was also an especially well-crafted work of art, in particular in the cutting of the flashes in the rete.","short_description":"This astrolabe includes all of the component parts of the planispheric astrolabes that were indispensable to ancient astronomers for determining prayer times and the height of the stars, and for establishing horoscopes. It is one of the first portable astrolabes in the West.","type":"Scientific instrument, metalwork","holder":"Batha Museum.","initial_owner":"*Habus* (endowment).","dates":"Hegira 614 / AD 1217–18.","location":"Fez.","dimensions":"Height 22.5 cm, diameter 21 cm.","method_for_datation":"The inscription engraved on the suspension plate names the craftsman and the date it was made: 'This was made by Muhammad ibn al-Fatuh al-Khamayri in the year 614 [AD 1218]'. The numbers are written in letters according to the Abajid style.","method_for_provenance":"The inscription on the back of the astrolabe: 'This was made *habus* property to deserve the blessing and forgiveness of God the Supreme for the *minbar* of the Andalusian Mosque in the town of Fez, may God the Supreme protect it'. There were actually two *minbars* at the Andalusian Mosque, one commissioned in 369 / 980 and the other built under the Almohads.","provenance":"Andalusian Mosque, Fez.","obtention":"Restoration.","bibliography":"Amahan, A., *6000 ans d'art au Maroc*, catalogue, Paris, 1990.  \nBergé, M., *Les Arabes, Histoire et Civilisation, des origines à la chute du Royaume de Grenade*, Paris, 1978.  \nMichel, H., *Traité de l'astrolabe*, Paris, 1947.  \nRenaud, P.J., “Astronomie et Astrologie marocaines”, *Hespéris* XXIX, Rabat, 1942, pp.42–63.","linkcatalogs":"IAM_MA_EN_001","author":"Naima El Khatib-Boujibar","copy_editor":"Margot Cortez","translator":"Laurence Nunny","translation_copy_editor":"Monica Allen","keywords":["astronomy","epigraphic decoration","geometric decoration","habus","religious object","science","scientific object","vegetal decoration"],"materials":["Engraved brass."]},"dfeaa653-0f75-546d-8c39-7cac8ec05374":{"name":"Planispheric Astrolabe","description":"Astrolabes of this size were not precise enough for astronomical observations, but served well for telling time, and astrologers could use them to determine the position of a planet relative to the different astrological houses. The intricate calligraphic faceplate of this example is typical of Safavid‑period astrolabes; it reads: \"In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate\" (bismallah al‑Rahman al‑Rahim).","type":"Metalwork","holder":"The Metropolitan Museum","initial_owner":"I. G. Sargis, New York(until 1963)","dates":"AH 1065 / AD 1654-5","location":"New York","dimensions":"Height: 21,6cm, width: 17,1cm, depth: 5,7cm","place_of_production":"Attributed to Iran, Mashhad","obtention":"Sold to the museum in 1963","bibliography":"Bowie, T. R., \"An Exhibition Prepared by Theodore Bowie.\" In *Islamic Art Across the World.*, Vol. no. 1970/3. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Art Museum, June 17 to Oct. 1, 1970.  \n  \nMayer, L. A., *Islamic Architects and Their Works.*, Geneva: Albert Kundig, 1956.  \n  \nRahim, H., *Inscription as Art in the World of Islam: Unity in Diversity: at the Emily Lowe Gallery.* , Hempstead, NY: Hofstra Museum, Hofstra University, 1996.  \n  \nEkhtiar, M., P. P. Soucek, S. R. Canby, and N. Haidar, ed., Masterpieces from the Department of Islamic Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art., 1st ed., New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011.  \n  \nSaliba, G., *Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance.* , Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2011.  \n  \nEkhtiar, M., and C. Moore, ed. \"A Resource for Educators.\" In Art of the Islamic World., New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012.  \n  \nTokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. \"Masterpieces of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.\" In *Earth, Sea, and Sky: Nature in Western Art.* ,Tokyo: Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 2012.","catalogue_holding_link":"https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/451699","materials":["Brass and steel","cast and hammered","pierced and engraved"]},"e8e399f5-c3f4-5c44-8ed7-085220b24c32":{"name":"*Farmácia Barbosa*","alternate_name":"Barbosa Pharmacy (reconstruction)","description":"A reconstruction of Farmácia Barbosa, an 18th-century apothecary, with its numerous niches and shelves painted in cream, and examples of 18th-century Portuguese pharmaceutical earthenware.  \nThe central niche, decorated with engraved Baroque motifs in gold, held a religious image – St. Michael – which would guide the pharmacist's actions. The stands, with shelves, had drawers at the bottom for storing medicinal plants and samples, while the shelves held the hand-painted apothecary's jars, decorated profusely in the Baroque style or embellished with a private or religious coat of arms. Painted in monochrome two-tone blue, some are labelled in Latin to describe the product inside and some have blank spaces ready to have a label or inscription applied.  \nThe Portuguese earthenware displayed in this pharmacy came from the dispensaries of various convents such as those belonging to the orders of the Augustinians, the Carmelites, the Dominicans, St. Philip of Nery (Oratory), the Third Order of St. Francis, the Jesuits, the Poor Clares and even the military orders of Aviz and Santiago.  \nAnother collection of apothecary jars belonged to the Santa Casa da Misericórdia of Viana; their earthenware was produced at the Darque factory in 1774. This reconstruction includes the original pharmacy ceiling from Santa Casa da Misericórdia, its edges decorated with vegetal motifs in red, green, blue and white. The apothecary display case decorated with carvings bears the initials of the original owners of the pharmacy, Manuel Rodrigues Barbosa, at its centre. Barbosa practiced the profession in the Monastery at Paço de Sousa and acquired all the equipment from there in 1834.  \nFeatures discovered during restoration suggest that the higher central area predates the rest. This is shown by its structure; how it was built and the materials used. Inside the old pharmacy, there are bottles, flasks, weights and measures, retorts, crucibles and *pharmacopeias* that together make up the pharmaceutical arsenal used in the preparation of medicaments in the 18th century.","short_description":"A reconstruction of Farmácia Barbosa, an 18th-century apothecary. The stands, with shelves, had drawers at the bottom for storing medicinal plants and samples, whilst the shelves would hold the famous hand-painted apothecary jars profusely decorated in the Baroque style.","type":"Woodwork","holder":"Pharmacy Museum","owner":"Museu da Farmácia / Associação Nacional de Farmácias","initial_owner":"Paço de Sousa Monastery","dates":"c. 1770–1790","location":"Lisbon, Lisbon","dimensions":"H: 2.90 m","place_of_production":"Paço de Sousa, Penafiel","method_for_datation":"Documents and evidence recovered during restoration process.","provenance":"Paço de Sousa Penafiel","obtention":"Private Donation","bibliography":"Basso, M. P., *Treasures of the Pharmacy Museum*, Lisbon, 2001.","author":"Paula Basso","translator":"Mick Greer","translation_copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["apothecary jars","furnishing","medicine","Pharmacy","science"],"materials":["Carved wood"]},"e98373dd-6e4e-5ada-9719-c553fa2337f9":{"name":"Glass vessel possibly for chemistry.","description":"A plain, utilitarian glass vessel without ornamentation. Its unusual shape indicates specialised use, probably in a field such as chemistry. It has an oval-shaped body with a narrow and long pipe coming out of its side and curving upward almost perpendicularly. The pipe grows gradually wider near the tip and its outward-splayed lip is shaped like a little funnel. This vessel is made of thin, white, translucent glass. It is free from decoration, probably so that the progress of chemical reactions taking place within it could be observed.  \nThe Abbasid period witnessed a cultural and scientific renaissance and archaeologists have discovered many glass finds intended for practical uses.","short_description":"Skilled craftsmanship was required not just for luxury wares but for more utilitarian objects as well. This undecorated but highly sophisticated glass vessel was probably used for experiments in chemistry.","type":"Vassel, glass","holder":"National Museum of Damascus","dates":"Around hegira 3rd–4th century / AD 9th–10th century.","location":"Damascus","dimensions":"Height 22.2 cm, width (of belly) 9.6 cm.","method_for_datation":"Glass production flourished in many Islamic centres in Iran, Iraq, Syria and Egypt, and throughout several eras. Similarly, shaped glass fragments have been attributed to the early 'Abbasid period. Numerous utilitarian, Abbasid-era glass objects have been found in the Raqqa region during archaeological excavations of the 'Abbasid palace complexes under the direction of Nasib Salibi during the 1950s and Michael Meinecke during the 1990s. It is possible that this vessel was produced in the early Abbasid period.","method_for_provenance":"Numerous finds of glass in archaeological excavations at Raqqa, together with knowledge that the area was a glass-making centre, make it possible that the object was manufactured in Raqqa, a large urban city complex that flourished under the Abbasids.","provenance":"Raqqa region, Syria.","obtention":"Purchased in 1919.","bibliography":"Abu al-Faraj al-Ush, M., *A Concise Guide to the National Museum of Damascus,* Damascus, 1969, p.250.  \nCarboni, S., and Whitehouse, D., *Glass of the Sultans*, New York, 2001.","author":"Mona al-Moadin","translator":"Hilary Kalmbach (from the Arabic)","translation_copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["Blown glass","chemistry","Glass vessel","Michael Meinecke","Nasib Salibi","Raqqa","science"],"materials":["Blown glass."]},"ea99bbf2-1d63-5510-96b0-82bb57bbc44b":{"name":"Traditional clepsydra","alternate_name":"Water clock; irrigation time bowl;*Tanast*, *Tassa*, *Tighira*","description":"Locally known as *tanast*, *tassa* or *tighira*, the traditional clepsydra is a water clock used in the oases of southeastern Morocco, particularly in Tafilalet, to measure irrigation turns. Farmers rely on it to know exactly how long they can access water from canals, springs, or reservoirs to water their fields. It consists of a small perforated copper bowl that floats inside a larger bucket of water. As water slowly seeps into the bowl, it becomes heavier until it sinks, and the moment it sinks marks one fixed unit of irrigation time. By repeating this cycle communities could divide water fairly among rights-holders, according to customary law.  \nThe device embodies the principle of hydraulic justice—time, rather than volume, becomes the standard, allowing a constant and transparent distribution even when flow varies. Its durable copper construction, portability, and ease of calibration made it ideal for communal use beside canals and reservoirs.  \nBeyond its utilitarian value, the clepsydra reflects deep cultural meanings: the sanctity of water, the moral duty to share, and the sophisticated know-how of rural artisans who crafted reliable instruments without modern technology.  \n  \nThough many oases now use pumps and clocks, the Tanast remains a powerful symbol of Morocco’s living hydraulic heritage and community self-governance.","type":"Traditional time-measuring device for water distribution","holder":"Mohammed VI Museum of Water Civilisation","owner":"Mohammed VI Museum of Water Civilisation","initial_owner":"Community water users in Tafilalet (traditional practice)","dates":"AH 16th / AD 20th century","location":"Marrakech","dimensions":"12 × 28cm (bowl); 18cm × 42cm","place_of_production":"Tafilalet, Morocco","method_for_datation":"Based on curatorial documentation and typology of Tafilalet irrigation tools.","method_for_provenance":"Museum records (exhibition documentation).","provenance":"Collected as part of the museum’s permanent exhibition on traditional water management","obtention":"Museum acquisition for didactic display (details not available).","bibliography":"El Faïz, M., *L’eau et les hommes au Maghreb*, Rabat: L’Harmattan, 2002.","author":"MUSEUM Staff","copy_editor":"Judy Harter","keywords":["clepsydra","community management","copperwork","irrigation time","oases","Tafilalet","tanast","water rights"],"materials":["Copper bowl with central perforation","copper bucket","handcrafted metalwork"]},"eb5b5b6f-3b83-5284-8eb0-50673debe16c":{"name":"Medical box of Dr. İbrahim Göze","description":"Dr. İbrahim Ethem Göze started studying medicine first in Civilian Medical School and graduated from Darülfünun Medical Faculty in 1914. He specialized in dermatology in Gureba Hospital in Istanbul. This medical box belonged to Dr. İbrahim Ethem Göze is rectangular in shape, brown and covered with leather. It also has a handle for carrying. It is in two pieces with four chambers inside. One of the chambers has a cover. In the front there are salvarsan (Arsphenamine) medicine boxes used to cure syphilis, in the chamber at the back there are brown bottles on which sulphur, ammonia, alcohol and tincture of iodine is written. In the covered chamber there are ampules, bandage, a metal syringe with its needle and one tongue holder. On the box one can read the figure of 152.","type":"Medical material","holder":"Cerrahpaşa Medical History Museum","dates":"1890–1923","location":"Istanbul","provenance":"Istanbul","copy_editor":"Daniel de la Vega"},"ebfd44a0-d4f8-5620-97dd-65b9e16f66cf":{"name":"The Acrobat","alternate_name":"Acrobat illustrating the state of equilibrium","description":"The Acrobat stands as one of the most emblematic objects of the Physics and Science Museum impressive collection of instruments. After de inventory the *acrobat stands on a single foot and turns around on the top of an artistically carved and decorated wooden base*. Elegantly dressed, epoch style, the figure maintains the equilibrium on top of the base through a single iron spike under one of its showes. It holds an inverted U shaped bent rod with heavy brass balls at both ends whose main function is to lower the centre of gravity of the figure bellow the contact point of the foot with the base.  \nStarting in the XVII century, scientific instruments like *The Acrobat* could be found in many Physics cabinets or used as decorative objects. Instruments of this kind, although of simpler conception are still common today namely as toys. Both artistically and historically, *The Acrobat* exceeds his original function and value.","short_description":"This instrument, used for experimental physics in the College of Philosophy at the University of Coimbra, illustrated the importance of an object’s centre of gravity relative to its surface of support when in a state of equilibrium.","type":"Scientific and didactic instrument","holder":"Museum of Physics, University of Coimbra","owner":"Museum of Physics, Science Museum of University of Coimbra","initial_owner":"Colégio de Nobres (Royal College of Noblemen)","dates":"1766–1768","location":"Coimbra, Coimbra","dimensions":"H: 52 cm; w: 22.5 cm depth: 20 cm","place_of_production":"Lisbon","method_for_datation":"This instrument is referred to in an undated inventory of the Colégio de Nobres, likely organised between 1766 and 1768.","provenance":"Colégio de Nobres (Royal College of Noblemen)","obtention":"The Cabinet of Physics at the Colégio de Nobres was transferred to the University of Coimbra in 1773.","bibliography":"Nollet, J.-A., *Leçons de Physique Expérimentale,* Paris, 1764, Vol. III, plate I, Fig. 2.  \nAlmeida, T. de, *Recreasão filozofica ou dialogo sobre a Filosofia Natural para instrucsão de pesoas curiozas, que não frequentárão as aulas*, Lisbon, 1784, Vol. I, plate I, fig. 2.  \n*Les Mécanismes du Génie*. *Instruments Scientifiques du XVIII et XIX siècles*, Europália, Charleroi, 1991.  \n*O Engenho e a Arte,* *Colecção de Instrumentos do Real Gabinete de Física, Universidade de Coimbra e Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian*, Lisbon, 1997.","copyright":"Copyright images: Museu de Física da Universidade de Coimbra.","author":"Ermelinda Antunes","translator":"Manuel Silva Pereira","translation_copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["centre of gravity","Mechanics"],"materials":["brass and iron","carved","painted and gilded wood"]},"f32db4ad-178e-583f-be68-731a20b86a1a":{"name":"Map of the Hijaz Railway. Designation in Ottoman Turkish and Arabic","description":"The map is part of the Pocket Atlas of the Ottoman Lands: The Geographical and Statistical Conditions of the Ottoman State. It represents territories extending from Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean in the west to the Euphrates River in the east, and from Damascus in the north to the Hijaz region in the south. The map identifies regions, towns, ports, deserts, mountain ranges and maritime routes in Ottoman Turkish written in Arabic script. A route beginning in Damascus and continuing through Darʿa and Maʿan toward Medina corresponds to the Hijaz Railway. The map table heading is given first in Ottoman Turkish and immediately below in Arabic, reading: \"Map of the Hijaz Railway\", with a list of stations underneath. Each location is accompanied by a numerical value expressed in kilometres, indicating cumulative distances measured from Damascus.","type":"Map, pocket atlas","holder":"Wolf-Dieter Lemke Collection","owner":"Wolf-Dieter Lemke Collection","dates":"AH c. 1328 / AD c. 1910","location":"Berlin","dimensions":"Height: 13 cm; width: 9,2 cm","provenance":"Collection of Wolf-Dieter Lemke, Berlin","bibliography":"Nicholson, James, *The Hejaz Railway*, London: Stacey International, 2005.  \n  \nAga Khan Trust for Culture, *Historic Train Stations of the Al-Hijaz Railway Network*, Geneva: Aga Khan Trust for Culture, 2004.","copy_editor":"Danielle Morcom","keywords":["Hijaz","Map","Syria","Trainlines","Türkiye"],"materials":["Paper","printed coloured pocket atlas"]},"f795fd67-bd2c-50a0-87cd-f4f308542324":{"name":"Earth and celestial globe, the so-called 'St. Gallen Globe'","description":"For many years, the so-called St. Gallen Globe, one of the prized objects of Swiss cultural history, was a source of contention. The globe featuring Mercator maps of the earth and the celestial sphere was created by Tilemann Stella in northern Germany towards the end of the sixteenth century, as a document discovered in 2016 reveals. Although they were not suitable for navigation, globes were extremely popular in the early modern period. What makes the St. Gallen Globe so special is its combination of world and celestial globes. Entitled as a gift, which, however, was later satisfied, the globe was incorporated in the library of the Abbey of St Gallen where it was kept until 1712. During the Second War of Villmergen the globe was robbed and carted off to Zürich where it was displayed in the Wasserkirche (Water Church). St Gallen demanded the return of the globe, but to no avail. When the Swiss National Museum was established in 1898, the globe passed into the hands of the Swiss Confederation; it has been on display in the museum ever since. The dispute over the treasure, which went down in Swiss history as the cultural heritage conflict between Zürich and St Gallen, was only resolved in 2006 when the St Gallen Abbey library received a true copy of the contested globe.","type":"Globe","holder":"Swiss National Museum","owner":"Zentralbibliothek Zürich","dates":"Around 1570","location":"Zurich","dimensions":"H: 233cm, W: 174cm, Diameter: 121cm (with frame), L: 380cm","method_for_datation":"In 2016 a document was found which revealed the globe’s origin.","provenance":"Northern Germany, Mecklenburg","obtention":"The globe was donated 1595 to the Stiftsbibliothek St. Gallen and robbed 1712 by Zürich troops during the second Villmerger-wars. Since then it is in the property of the Stadtbibliothek Zürich, now called Zentralbibliothek. When the Landesmuseum opened its doors in 1898 it was given into possession of the Landesmuseum as part of the “Morgengabe”.","keywords":["Scientific instruments","St. Gallen Globus","terrestrial and cellestial globe"],"materials":["painted","Papier-mâché","Wood"]},"fa16c243-a50e-562c-8d05-fe7c41233b43":{"name":"A monumental planispheric astrolabe made for Shah Jahan, most probably by Diya’ al-Din Muhammad Lahori","short_description":"The astrolabe was the principal Islamic instrument for telling the time, surveying and determining latitude. It consists of a solid body, the mater, into which fit a series of plates (six in this astrolabe) and a revolving circular web-like star map, the rete, known as *‘ankabut* (‘spider’) in Arabic. The various elements, supplemented by a sighting vane (the alidade), on the back of the instrument, were held together by a pin.  \nIn a recent detailed study, Professor S.R. Sarma has shown that this astrolabe is almost certainly the work of Diya’ al-Din Muhammad, a member of the famous Lahori astrolabe makers. Several features have led him to the conclusion that it was made for the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, sometime between 1648, when he moved his capital to Delhi renaming it Shahjahanabad – the name used on this astrolabe – and the end of his reign in 1658. Sanskrit legends were added to the Arabic ones in 1701, during which process the original inscription naming the maker, the date and the patron must have been effaced.","type":"Astrolabe; scientific instrument","holder":"Khalili Family Trust – Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art","dates":"AD between 1648–58","location":"London","dimensions":"H: 60.2cm; diameter: 52.6cm; thickness: 1.4cm","method_for_datation":"Attribution, date and provenance based on extensive research by Professor S.R. Sarma.","provenance":"Punjab, Lahore","bibliography":"Maddison, F., and Savage-Smith, E., *Science, Tools & Magic*, London: The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, volume 12, Part One, 1997: cat.133, pp.230–33.  \nSarma, S.R., “A Monumental Astrolabe Made for Shāh Jahān and Later Reworked with Sanskrit Legends”, *Medieval Encounters*, 23 (2017): 198–262.","keywords":["astronomical instrument","astronomy","brass","Mughal","Mughal India","scientific object","silver"],"materials":["brass","cut and engraved","sheet and cast","the rete is inlaid with silver"]},"fb6d76a4-8c2e-5feb-8110-649d35ff03da":{"name":"Celestial globe","description":"As everyone knows, 29 February is a leap day and appears on the calendar only once every four years. The day was introduced in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII. The new Gregorian calendar finally did justice to the fact that a year has 365.2425 days. Only four years later, Jost Bürgi, a brilliant astronomer, mathematician, clockmaker, and maker of astronomical instruments, built a celestial globe incorporating the new calendar for the German Kaiser. He developed the first-ever mechanical system to display 29 February in leap years. Bürgi was born in what is today the canton of St. Gallen and worked with the famous astronomer Johannes Kepler at the imperial court in Prague. In addition to the celestial globe, he also invented many other things. He was the first person to draw up a logarithmic table. Additionally, he built a clock with three hands, thereby creating the second as a unit of time.","type":"Celestial globe","holder":"Swiss National Museum","owner":"Swiss Confederation","dates":"AD 1594","location":"Zurich","dimensions":"H: 25,5cm, Diameter of the globe: 14,2cm","method_for_datation":"According to an Inscription on the lower side of the globe","provenance":"Germany, Kassel, Hessen","obtention":"Donated in 1978","keywords":["Celestial Globe","Jost Bürgi","Kassel","scientific instrument"],"materials":["Brass golden plated","chased","engraved"]},"ff3db0a2-4bc7-576e-bbd7-b0882e3ea217":{"name":"Astrolabe.","description":"An astrolabe that has a hollowed-out central disc; a sort of base plate (a mater), that is formed by riveting the back plate to the raised edge (the limb), which is inscribed in *kufic* script. The jointed ring (or throne), from which the instrument is suspended perpendicular to the ground to give a reading, is not all original. The *rête* (the pierced front plate showing the positions of the stars) is a replacement made in the 13th century. The astrolabe can be taken apart by unscrewing the central knob (horse) to reveal seven plates. Engraved on the plates in simpler *kufic* script to that seen on the limb, are seven names of places: Mecca, Medina, Saragossa, Samarra, Cairo, Toledo and Constantinople, along with the latitude and the hours in the longest day. The plates are engraved with azimuths as well as almucantarsand there are lines indicating times of prayer. The interior of the *mater* is engraved with the markings of 66 degrees, it is a plate of ecliptic co-ordinates, while the back bears four scales of altitude and two ecliptic and calendrical scales. The maker’s signature is on the back of the *mater*.  \nThe astrolabe is a device known from at least the AH 2nd / AD 8th century, and it represents the notion of heaven with all its stars, based on the assumption that earth is at the centre of a spherical universe. The astrolabe had many purposes. It served as an astronomical calculating device allowing the observation of solar and stellar altitudes. It was also used for navigational purposes. Time-keeping was another important function of the astrolabe in the Muslim sphere, for it was exploited in particular to calculate the precise timing of the five daily prayers.  \nSpain was invaded by the Muslims in the AH 2nd / AD 8th century and subsequently a vibrant civilisation evolved, one that collected, incorporated and disseminated the ideas of ancient as well as contemporaneous Arab scientists and scholars. This European-made and dated astrolabe is the earliest known, produced in AH 417 / AD 1026–7 by Muhammad ibn al-Saffar. Interestingly, Ibn al-Saffar, brother of Muhammad ibn al-Saffar, was the author of the first known treatise from Islamic Spain on the astrolabe. Two contemporary astrolabes survive from this period; both signed by Muhammad ibn al-Saffar, this one is the earlier of the two. In Europe production and use of the astrolabe had waned by the 18th century, but in the Islamic world they were made and used into the 20th century.","short_description":"The Muslim world inherited the astrolabe from Antiquity. It was an essential astronomical calculation device used for observing the stars, navigation and time keeping. In the AH 2nd / AD 8th century, following the Muslim conquest of Spain, it was introduced to Europe.","type":"Scientific instrument, metalwork, cast copper","holder":"National Museums of Scotland.","dates":"Hegira 417 / AD 1026–7.","location":"Edinburgh, Scotland","dimensions":"Diameter 15.5 cm.","method_for_datation":"On the back of the astrolabe the inscription in *kufic* script states: ‘Work of Muhammad bin \\[ibn\\] al-Saffar in Córdoba in the year 17 and 400’ (417 / 1026–7).","method_for_provenance":"The inscription on the back of the astrolabe gives the place of origin as Córdoba.","provenance":"Córdoba, Spain.","obtention":"A gift to the Royal Museum, NMS, from James H. Farr, F.I.M.I., Edinburgh, in 1959.","bibliography":"NMS Object Record File, containing material directly reproduced from the following references:  \nKing, D. A., ‘Some Medieval Astronomical Instruments and their Secrets’, **in** Mazzolini, R. G. (ed.), *Non-Verbal Communication in Science prior to 1900*, Florence 1993, pp.29–52.  \nMaddison, F., and Turner, A., *Science and Technology in Islam*, exhibition catalogue, London 1976, pp.104–6.  \nPhillips, P., *The Collectors’ Encyclopeadia of Antiques*, London 1973, p.604, fig. a.  \nPlenderleith, R. W., ‘Discovery of an Old Astrolabe’ in *The Scottish Geographical Magazine,* Vol. 76, No. 1, 1960: 25.","author":"Ulrike Al-Khamis","copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["astrolabe","astronomy","Cordoba","kufic script","Muhammad ibn al-Saffar","science"],"materials":["Cast brass","incised."]}}
+{"00a4a413-b81a-55ed-8395-f8514dc9b430":{"name":"Astrolabe.","description":"The astrolabe is in the form of a clock face. Seven plates belong to it, one of them fixed and the others rotating. The six rotating plates are attached to the fixed one by a central screw decorated with a rosette. On top of the faces of these plates, which have meridians, concentric circles and astronomical and astrological terms and names engraved on them, is placed an indicator with hooked ends which can be used to determine the positions of 29 stars. These in turn can be used to measure time and distance.  \n  \nHistorical sources indicate that the astrolabe was invented by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus in the second century BC. The most advanced types of astrolabe were used by the Muslims of al-Andalus and the Maghreb.","short_description":"Astrolabes are astronomical instruments used for measuring time and distance. Their plates bear engraved concentric circles, meridians and astrological terms and numerals. Invented in the 2nd century BC, the most advanced astrolabes were used by the Muslims in al-Andalus and the Maghreb.","type":"Scientific instrument, metalwork","holder":"Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts.","initial_owner":"Muhammad bin Batut of the Hamairi family.","dates":"Hegira 650 / AD 1252.","location":"Sultanahmet, Istanbul.","dimensions":"Height 19 cm, diameter 17 cm.","method_for_datation":"According to the inscription on the astrolabe, it was made in the year 650 / 1252 and belonged to Muhammad bin Batut of the Hamairi family in Ishbiliya (modern Seville).","method_for_provenance":"The inscription specifies the city of Ishbiliya (modern Seville).","provenance":"Ishbiliya (modern Seville), Spain.","obtention":"Transferred to the Museum in 1964 from the Treasury of the Topkapı Palace Museum, Istanbul.","bibliography":"ölçer, N. *et al, Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art*, Istanbul, 2002, p.90.","dynasty":"Almohad","author":"Alev Özay","translator":"Barry Wood, İnci Türkoğlu","translation_copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["astrology","astronomy","brass","calligraphy","science"],"materials":["Cast and beaten brass with engraved decoration."]},"026dea32-9637-5a90-8cb3-ddf63a376262":{"name":"Astronomical instrument: *Qiblanuma*.","description":"The *qiblanuma* is a portable astronomical instrument whose name literally means 'showing the direction to the Ka'ba'. The wooden instrument is round, with a lid, and is decorated with lacquering, a technique known as *Edirnekari*, in red, pink, black, blue, green, and gilding. The main body includes the compass and pointer. The regions where the instrument can be used are shown on a map and a list of cities is given with their Arabic names.  \n  \nThe upper part of the inside lid shows, on a green background, the minarets of the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, with the Ka'ba in the courtyard. To the left of this are depictions of the sacred sites at the Plain of 'Arafat. To the right and in the foreground are date palms and olive trees, symbols of paradise and blessing. The empty space in the background is filled with illustrations of pomegranates in a bowl, representing plenty. A cartouche framed with leaf motifs extending from among the pomegranates, is decorated with a bouquet of roses on a gold background. The rose bouquet, symbolic of the Prophet Muhammad, was a popular motif in 18th-century Ottoman literature and floral paintings. Fruits in a bowl, symbolising fertility, abundance and immortality, were a typical motif of the period. The inscription in the lower part of the inside lid states that the instrument was made by Barun al-Muhtari in Istanbul in AH 1151 / AD 1738. It also includes instructions on how to use the instrument.  \n  \nThe outside of the lid is decorated in the naturalistic style known as Turkish Baroque-Rococo on a gold background. It features vases filled with roses and flowers surrounded by garlands of acanthus leaves and scrolling tendrils. Six oval medallions placed in this composition feature figureless landscape depictions, which are also found on wall paintings of the same period. The landscape depictions include views of lakes, houses amid trees on the shore, mansions, and villages on the opposite shore, all drawn with the illusion of depth.","short_description":"*Qiblanuma*s are portable astronomical instruments that show the direction to the Ka'ba in Mecca, which Muslims face to pray. They remained in use until the late AH 13th / AD 19th century and this example produced in Istanbul was decorated with a lacquering technique known as *Edirnekari*.","type":"Scientific instrument, laquered on wood","holder":"Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts.","dates":"Hegira 1151 / AD 1738.","location":"Sultanahmet, Istanbul.","dimensions":"Diameter 31 cm.","method_for_datation":"The date 1151 (1738–9) is given on the inside of the lid.","method_for_provenance":"The inscription inside the lid gives the place of production as Istanbul.","provenance":"Istanbul, Turkey.","obtention":"The instrument was transferred to the museum in 1951 from the Hisar Mosque in Izmir, .","bibliography":"Ölçer, N. *et al, In Pursuit of Excellence: The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts*, Istanbul, 1993, p.88.  \n  \nÖlçer, N. *et al, Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art*, Istanbul, 2002, pp.290–91.","dynasty":"Ottoman","linkcatalogs":"IAM_TR_EN_001","author":"Gönül Tekeli","translator":"Barry Wood, İnci Türkoğlu","translation_copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["astronomical instrument","Edirnekari technique","lacquer","Ottoman Baroque","pilgrimage","Qiblanuma","science."],"materials":["Lacquered (Edirnekari technique) on wood."]},"06f33fba-bdfd-5b3c-aa40-773547772993":{"name":"Astrolabe","short_description":"An astrolabe is a computing device used to solve various astronomical problems, such as telling time. The body of an astrolabe, which is known as the mater, consists of a metal disc with a raised rim. Stored within the mater are several circular metal plates, each engraved with a stereographic projection of the heavens at a specific latitude. Laid atop the uppermost of these plates (whichever one matches the current location of the user) is the rete, an open-work metal plate that functions as a star map, with the location of certain bright stars indicated by pointers. On the reverse of the mater is the alidade, a sight used for measuring the altitude of the sun by day and of a given star by night.","type":"Scientific instrument","holder":"The Chester Beatty Library","dates":"Hegira 1120 / AD 1708-1709","location":"Dublin","dimensions":"Diameter c. 12 cm","provenance":"Iran, Isfahan","dynasty":"Safavid","catalogue_holding_link":"https://viewer.cbl.ie/viewer/image/Is_Sc6/1/LOG_0000/","keywords":["astronomy","calligraphy","science","scientific instrument"],"materials":["Brass"]},"070ed0d9-7748-52d3-bd7e-202fe737f430":{"name":"Astrolabe.","description":"Planispheric astrolabe made of brass and comprising four main pieces: a box or 'mother' made up of five sheets that represent different latitudes, a network or 'spider' with indicators for 24 stars and an alidade. On the obverse or 'back' there is a zodiacal calendar and an altimetric scale called the 'shadow square'.  \nAstrolabes are versatile instruments that allow the position of the sun and stars to be calculated. They serve as a calendar and as a clock, and can be used to measure heights and distances. They were used in navigation until they were replaced by the quadrant. They were very useful for working out the time during the day and the night, and for establishing prayer times.  \nThis instrument was made in Toledo by the astrolabe maker Ibrahim ibn Said al-Sahali, whose name appears with the year of manufacture (AH 459 / AD 1067) in an inscription in Arabic on the back. Another two astrolabes and a celestial globe signed by him also exist. The astrolabe in the National Archaeological Museum has all of the characteristics of the Andalusian astrolabes, which were famous from the time of the Caliphate and continued to be made in the different Taifas, as in this example from Toledo.","short_description":"Made in Toledo (according to the inscription), this is one of the oldest astrolabes to have survived, and it demonstrates the scientific excellence attained in al-Andalus during the Taifa era. It was used to find one’s position using the stars in the night sky shown on one of its faces.","type":"Scientific instrument, metalwork","holder":"National Archaeological Museum.","dates":"Hegira 459 / AD 1067.","location":"Madrid","dimensions":"Diameter 24.2 cm, maximum depth 1.9 cm.","method_for_datation":"On the back, on the upper part, there is an inscription with the date: 'In the month of Sha'ban of the year 459' (AD 1067).","method_for_provenance":"The name of the city where it was made, Toledo, is written on the back.","provenance":"Toledo, Spain.","obtention":"The astrolabe came to the National Archaeological Museum in 1867 from the National Library.","bibliography":"García Franco, S., *Catálogo Crítico de Astrolabios Existentes en España, Madrid, 1945, pp.229–35.*  \nKing, D. A. “Andalusi Astronomical Instruments”, in *Al Andalus: The Art of Islamic Spain* (ed. J. D. Dodds), New York, 1992, pp.376–83.  \nSamsó, J., *Islamic Astronomy and Medieval Spain*, Aldershot, Hampshire, 1994.  \nVernet, J. and Samsó, J., *Instrumentos Astronómicos en la España Medieval: Su Influencia en Europa*, Santa Cruz de la Palma, 1985, pp.80–1.  \nViladrich, M., “Astrolabios Andalusíes”, in *El Legado Científico Andalusí*, Madrid, 1992, pp.53–65.","dynasty":"Taifa kingdom of Banu Dhi'l-Nun (Dhu'l-Nunids)","author":"M.ª del Carmen Alonso Rodríguez","copy_editor":"Rosalía Aller","translator":"Laurence Nunny","translation_copy_editor":"Monica Allen","keywords":["astrolabe","astronomy","science","Taifas","Toledo","zodiac"],"materials":["Cast and engraved brass"]},"0a01c64a-7bc8-567a-8c39-1d5b33e5f0a2":{"name":"Astrolabe.","description":"A round, brass astrolabe with a circular frame and an arabesque cartouche at the top from which a ring (the throne) would have been attached and the instrument suspended when in use. The astrolabe is an instrument used from at least the AH 2nd / AD 8th century. It is a multi-functional device that is employed in several ways: timekeeping by day and night; surveying and determining the distance and height of objects; measuring latitude and reading horoscopes. To use the astrolabe the appropriate disc is selected and inserted into the frame (mater) and set to a specific date and time according to the geographic location of the user. A plate (rete) with open-work zodiac signs in the inner circle, and other constellations in the outer circle, revolves over this giving an accurate astronomical reading.  \nIn the inscription on the back of the astrolabe is the name of the craftsman Abd al-Karim, accompanied by the names al-Malik, al-Mu’izz and Shihab al-Din. As there is no single ruler bearing this title before the year AH 638 / AD 1241, this is probably a list of three different individuals. It has been suggested that these names can be identified as: al-Malik al-Ashraf Musa I, one of the most powerful Ayyubid rulers of the early AH 7th / AD 13th century, and al-Mu’izz, a younger brother of al-Malik. The third name may be another younger brother of al-Malik al-Ashraf: al-Malik al-Muzaffar Shihab al-Din Ghazi who ruled the city of Mayyafariqin from AH 617–45 / AD 1220/1–47. These three Ayyubid brothers probably employed the craftsman, while the patron of this astrolabe is identified as Shihab al-Din.","short_description":"To use this astrolabe, the appropriate disc is inserted into the circular frame. Zodiac signs on the outer circle and constellations on the inner circle are revolved to give an astronomical reading. The readings have many uses, from telling the time of day for prayer times to reading horoscopes.","type":"Scientific instrument, metalwork, brass, copper, silver","holder":"The British Museum.","dates":"Hegira 683 / AD 1240–41.","location":"London, England","dimensions":"Height 26.45 cm, width 19.02 cm.","method_for_datation":"Previously the date was read as 633 (1236). However, Ward (2004) has recently made a more accurate reading of 638 (1240–1).","method_for_provenance":"Until recently the inscription was interpreted as al-Misri (from Cairo, Egypt). However, Ward (2004) believes it to refer to a ‘city’ and not specifically to Cairo. The inscription then refers to three Ayyubid brothers who ruled over parts of northern Syria and the Jazira in the first half of the 7th / 13th century. It is now thought that this astrolabe was produced in Mayyafariqin, a city known for its metalworking industry, which was under the rule of Shihab al-Din in around 637 / 1240.","provenance":"Syria or the Jazira.","obtention":"Acquired in 1855.","bibliography":"Ward, R., \"The Inscription of the Astrolabe by 'Abd al-Karim in the British Museum\", Muqarnas, XXI, 2004, pp.345–57.","dynasty":"Ayyubid","author":"Emily Shovelton","copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["astrology","astronomy","constellation","science","timekeeping","zodiac"],"materials":["Engraved brass with silver and copper inlay."]},"0db4a4c1-61f8-578b-9b95-99cacaf89afb":{"name":"Astrolabe","short_description":"Astrolabe. Made by 'Abd al-Karim al-Misri.","type":"Scientific instrument; metalwork","holder":"The British Museum","dates":"1236; acquisition date: 1855","location":"London","provenance":"Egypt","keywords":["Franks","scientific object","astronomy","astrology","science","constellation","zodiac"]},"1028751a-07f0-53c2-8d14-e1b298d6e008":{"name":"Board","description":"Qur'anic board used in the African *madrasas* (schools), places where the first verses of the Qur'an are learned, under the direction of the *marabout* (teacher). The learning method consists of copying and reciting the different verses of the Qur'an, in a process of memorisation, which allows the students to erase them and then to write the following verses. The *alluha* (table of wood), the reed, and the ink are the only available pedagogic materials of the Qur'anic schools in the rural areas. The Qur'anic boards turn into documents that preserve the written personality of those who used them, the irregularity of the letter, the crooked lines, the hesitations, the corrected mistakes, the erased lines that refuse to disappear, as a register of a period of effort and domain of skills typical of the school stage.","type":"Print; Woodwork","holder":"National Museum of Anthropology","dates":"19th century","location":"Madrid","dimensions":"28 x 19 cm","copy_editor":"Anne Dowell","keywords":["Wood","education","Qur´an"],"materials":["Wood; pigments, ink"]},"1488ab73-2672-5641-a84a-174c9bfb4fd8":{"name":"Perpetual calendar","short_description":"This perpetual calendar is contained within a cylindrical silver casing with a rounded shoulder. Four lateral knobs, two on either side, move the calendar's paper and textile elements, giving the month, the date and probably the day (this section is damaged). Above, a circular medallion contains the start year of the calendar, 1327 H/ 1909 AD.  The calendar is decorated all over with delicate niello deccoration. The front, with three superposed and elongated cartouche-shaped openings, is ornamented with a lobed panel containing naturalistic flower sprays. Below, a panel with three loop extensions contains an Arabic inscription - taqweem da'imi - that identifies the object's function. In the Tanzimat period, and up to 1926, the Mailya or Rumi calendar was introduced, which was based on the Julian solar calendar but started in the year of the Prophet's (pbuh) move from Makkah to Madina in 1 H/ 622 AD. It used old Syrian names for the months and was intended to ease the annual tax and fiscal calculations and payments.","type":"Nielloed silver calendar; metalwork","holder":"Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation / Sharjah Museums Department","dates":"Hegira 1327 / AD 1909","location":"Sharjah","dimensions":"Height 130 mm, width 70 mm, depth 33 mm","provenance":"Ottoman empire","author":"Ulrike Al-Khamis","keywords":["taqweem da'imi"],"materials":["Nielloed silver, copper alloy, iron, wood, printed paper, printed textile"]},"16b09d34-6359-51a2-97ca-7d634682b13c":{"name":"Planispheric astrolabe.","description":"The astrolabe is an astronomical instrument consisting of several parts. The main part is the circular body, called the mater, which is composed of a limb (outer edge) fastened to a plate. The limb of the mater bears a 360° scale, numbered clockwise at intervals of five degrees. Every fifteen degrees is punctuated by a dotted line. Above, a handle is attached to the body. The ring that normally passes through the handle is missing. It served to fix a cord since the astrolabe was used suspended. Seven thin plates and the rete, a skeleton-like plate which indicates the stars, are fitted into the mater. A pin, passing through a hole at the centre, holds the several parts together.  \nThe planispheric astrolabe is based on the principle of stereographic projection. The circles on the plates present the spherical surface of the earth at particular geographical latitude. The circles of the rete correspond to the vault of the fixed stars. Because the rete is the movable part, originally turned around by four knobs that are now missing, both the earth and the firmament can be set in combination with each other. The stars are indicated by the star-pointers. The 29 star-pointers of this astrolabe have bulbous bases, which are perforated with holes. The names of the stars are engraved in *kufic* letters below the pointer. The attraction of Western Arabic astrolabes derives from the curvatures and decorations of these star pointers. Another important part of the rete is the ecliptic, the circle of the zodiac. The Arabic names of the zodiacal signs are engraved in *kufic*.  \nOn the back of the astrolabe are several circles representing the zodiac or the months of the Julian calendar with their Arabic names and two shadow squares. Above the east–west line are engraved the name of Ahmad ibn Ali al-Sharfi, the craftsman who made the astrolabe, and the date and place of manufacture.  \nAn astrolabe was used for various purposes such as the measuring of the altitude of the sun or the stars to determine the times of sunrise, sunset or prayer.","short_description":"Astronomical instrument. It consists of several parts, which indicate, for example, the stars, the zodiac or the ecliptic. It served various purposes such as measuring the altitude of the sun or the stars to determine the times of sunrise, sunset or prayer.","type":"Scientific instrument, metalwork","holder":"National Maritime Museum.","dates":"Hegira 729 / AD 1329.","location":"Stockholm","dimensions":"Diameter 12.2 cm.","method_for_datation":"The year of its manufacture is given on the back.","method_for_provenance":"The place of manufacture, which is incised together with the name of the craftsman on the back of the astrolabe, is given as Alcalá.","provenance":"Alcalá (near Sevilla), Spain.","obtention":"The astrolabe was bought by a Major Arvid Mörner in Fez, Morocco in 1907. In December 1931 the National Maritime Museum acquired the astrolabe from the property of Count Otto Hamilton.","bibliography":"Gunther, R. T., *The Astrolabes of the World*, 2 vols. London (reprint), 1976.  \nKing, D. A., *Islamic Astronomical Instruments*, London, 1987.  \nMaddison, F. and Savage-Smith, E., in *Science, Tools and Magic*, Part 1, Vol. 12 of the Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art (ed. J. Raby), London, New York, 1997.  \n*Sjöhistoriska Museet Årsbok*, 108, 1988/9.  \nStautz, B., *Die Astrolabiensammlungen des Deutschen Museums und des Bayrischen Nationalmuseums*, Munich 1999.","dynasty":"Nasrid","author":"Friederike Voigt (on the basis of information about the object given by Susanna Allesson Nyberg).","copy_editor":"Monica Allen","keywords":["astrolabe","astronomy","prayer","science"],"materials":["Brass","engraved."]},"17dd3ddc-9ae3-581d-8b9f-700deb1e3f48":{"name":"Omega Speedmaster Watch","description":"When the American astronaut Buzz Aldrin walked on the surface of the moon on 21 July 1969, he was wearing an Omega Speedmaster wristwatch. Originally, Neil Armstrong was supposed to wear a similar watch when, prior to Aldrin, he became the first human being to set foot on the moon. However, after the moon lander’s clock broke during the approach, Armstrong decided to leave his Speedmaster in the lander just to be on the safe side. These watches, made in the Swiss city of Biel, had been chosen by the US space agency NASA because of their superior quality: Omega watches were simply better than any competing timepiece and the Speedmaster, made in the Swiss canton of Berne, was the only model that was found to be spaceworthy after stringent testing. The watches were tested under conditions of zero gravity, extreme temperatures, and high acceleration. Thus the Omega Speedmaster became the only representative of Switzerland ever to reach the moon.","type":"Watch","holder":"Swiss National Museum","owner":"Swiss Confederation","dates":"1967","location":"Zurich","dimensions":"L: 24,7cm, Diameter: 3.97cm","method_for_datation":"Documents","provenance":"Switzerland, Biel, canton of Bern","obtention":"Bought in 2009","workshop":"Omega AG","keywords":["Biel","Bienne","Omega","Speedmaster","Watch"],"materials":["Steel, glass, leather"]},"2a51dcfa-cb1d-50b4-aa78-fe06eed41edc":{"name":"Plan of Temple Mount, called “Harem ech-Cherif” by Muslims. (In French)","description":"This annotated plan by Ermete Pierotti pays particular attention to the water cisterns below the surface of the Haram al Sharif, which were used by those people who lived in, worked in, and visited the compound. Ermete Pierotti was an Italian naval officer who was employed by the Ottoman government in Jerusalem between 1854 and 1861. He was an engineer on the Haram al Sharif. This gave him unprecedented access to the monuments, which he recorded in some detail.","type":"Hand-annotated plan with extensive notes","holder":"Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF)","owner":"Palestine Exploration Fund","initial_owner":"Ermete Pierotti","dates":"AH 1862 / AD 1862","location":"London","dimensions":"41 x 30cm","place_of_production":"Jerusalem","method_for_datation":"Written on document","method_for_provenance":"Written on document","provenance":"Jerusalem and Cambridge","obtention":"Acquired following Ermete Pierotti's death","bibliography":"Pierotti, E., J*erusalem Explored: Being a Description of the Ancient and Modern City, with Numerous Illustrations Consisting of Views, Ground Plans and Sections*, London: Bell and Daldy, 1864.  \n  \nLegouas, J.Y., “Saving Captain Pierotti”, in *Palestine Exploration Quarterly*, 143.3 (2013).","workshop":"Ermete Pierotti, Jerusalem","artist_birthdate":"1820","artist_birthplace":"Pieve Fosciana, Italy","artist_deathdate":"After 1888","artist_deathplace":"Unknown","author":"Felicity Cobbing","copy_editor":"Judy Harter","keywords":["Jerusalem, Haram Al Sharif, Cisterns, Ottoman, Ermete Pierotti"],"materials":["Paper, ink, watercolour"]},"30efc219-29fa-5f32-b34b-24791540a5c9":{"name":"Astrolabe","short_description":"This portable astrolabe consists of a suspension device with a 18cm diameter disk, divided up into degrees, and a handle. Two moving parts are used for measurements: the spider on the front, and the alidade (a flat ruler revolving round a point) on the back. The astrolabe remained in use as the primary tool for navigation until the 18th century. However, it was also used as an astronomical tool, to measure the height of stars from the horizon, or the angle separating one star from another.","type":"Scientific instrument; metalworks","holder":"Musée national du Bardo","dates":"Late 18th century","location":"Le Bardo, Tunis","dimensions":"Ep. 1,2 cm, Ø 24 cm","provenance":"Tunis","author":"Saloua Zangar","translator":"Flaminia Baldwin","keywords":["Navigation tools","astronomy"],"materials":["Brass"]},"331be2fc-32f2-5ed5-bb67-3f9817fcb2d0":{"name":"*Aegilops ovata* L.","short_description":"This is a Portuguese case of this scientific transnational reality. Herbarium sheet with three fruiting specimens of Aegilops ovata. The specimens were collected in Algeria, in May 1840 by the Scientific Commission of Argelia, under M. Durieu supervision. It includes a label with the scientific name and collecting details, as well as a color scale and a linear scale. A detail: Genus Aegilops is possibly one of the ancestors to common wheat.","type":"Herbarium specimen","holder":"National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) / Museums of the University of Lisbon","dates":"1840","location":"Lisbon","dimensions":"39 x 26 cm","provenance":"Algeria","author":"Ana Isabel Correia (FCUL/MUHNAC-UL)","keywords":["herbarium","vascular plant","grass","goatgrass","National Museum of Natural History and Science","University of Lisbon"],"materials":["Pressed and dried plant, glued on paper"]},"3ce9d4f4-ee92-5a23-b01e-6209cae6e2dc":{"name":"Celestial Globe","description":"This precisely executed globe, made of two hemispheres, is the sixth earliest surviving celestial globe. The maker’s name is given twice on the globe. The first, and shorter inscription, states that the globe was made by Muhammad ibn Mahmud ibn ‘Ali al-Tabari. His name appears again in the longer five-line inscription, where he omits the name of his grandfather and his nisbah, but emphasizes instead his trade as an astrolabe-maker, al-asturlabi. And indeed the globe does reflect the work of a professional instrument maker.  \n  \nThe long inscription, situated near the south pole of the instrument, states that its maker, Muhammad ibn Mahmud based it on the illustrations in the AH 4th / AD 10th-century astronomer al-Sufi’s *Kitab suwar al-kawakib al-thabitah* (‘Book of the Fixed Stars’), adapting it to take account of the 200-year lapse of time and rectifying errors of placement and spelling and that the maker had written the identifications of the various constellations of the Zodiac, fixed stars, lunar mansions, and of some non-Zodiacal constellations as well. These show certain discrepancies with al-Sufi’s figures, and, further away from the ecliptic, the star-positions are increasingly misleading. And, although the maker does not say so, he would also have been responsible for calibrating the globe, a necessary condition of its being used for astronomical purposes.","type":"Scientific instrument","holder":"Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art","owner":"Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art","dates":"AH 684 (AD 1285–6)","location":"London","dimensions":"Diameter: 13.4cm","place_of_production":"Iran","method_for_datation":"Dated AH 684 (AD 1285–6)","bibliography":"Maddison, F. and Savage-Smith, E., *Science, Tools & Magic. The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, vol. XII. Part One: Body and Spirit Mapping the Universe, London: The Nour Foundation, 1997: cat.123, pp.212–13.  \n  \nRogers, J.M., *The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from the Khalili Collection*, London: Thames & Hudson, 2010: cat.365, p.309.*","dynasty":"Ilkhanids","artist_birthdate":"Possibly Tabaristan","catalogue_holding_link":"https://www.khalilicollections.org/collections/islamic-art/khalili-collection-islamic-art-celestial-globe-sci21/","author":"Qaisra Khan","materials":["Brass, incised and inlaid with silver"]},"3e423cff-0065-54f2-9ad6-2060de93303b":{"name":"Barometer","short_description":"This barometer was a fixture of the Ottoman Anatolian Railway Company (CFOA – Chemin de fer Otoman d'Anatolie), 19th century.","type":"Scientific instrument","holder":"Istanbul Railway Museum","dates":"1888","location":"Istanbul","provenance":"Istanbul","copy_editor":"Daniel de la Vega","keywords":["architecture","railways","Sirkeci Train Station","Anatolian Railway"],"materials":["Metal"]},"52254363-31d0-54f5-bab4-97458eb40b9d":{"name":"Vanadinite","short_description":"Vanadinite crystals on matrix. Vanadinite is a vanadate mineral with the chemical formula Pb5(VO4)3Cl. This mineral species was named Vanadinite (1839) because it contains vanadium. It belongs to the Apatite group of phosphates. Crystals of vanadinite conform to the hexagonal system of symmetry. These Vanadinite crystals are short prismatic, with smooth faces and sharp hedges. Their colour is orange-red and they are nearly opaque. And they present an intense resinous lustre. Vanadinite occurs as a secondary mineral in the oxidized zone of lead-bearing deposits and it is one of the main industrial ores of the element vanadium. This sample has been collected at Mibladen Mine, Midelt, Khénifra Province, Morocco.","type":"Mineral","holder":"National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) / Museums of the University of Lisbon","dates":"c. 1839","location":"Lisbon","dimensions":"12.5 cm x 9.0 cm x 5.0 cm","provenance":"Mibladen Mine, Midelt, Morocco","author":"Liliana Póvoas (MUHNAC-UL)","keywords":["Vanadinite crystals","Apatite group","hexagonal system","vanadium ore","National Museum of Natural History and Science","University of Lisbon"],"materials":["Vanadinite crystals on matrix"]},"5dff6363-db06-5f8b-a5b7-182ee09e3ba6":{"name":"Gas burner","short_description":"The object is a set of four Bunsen burners, in metal. Each burner has its own regulation valve for gas. The Bunsen Burner is still today widely used in chemistry laboratories.","type":"Scientific instrument","holder":"National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) / Museums of the University of Lisbon","dates":"c. 1900–20","location":"Lisbon","dimensions":"22x18x5 cm","author":"Marta C. Lourenço (MUHNAC-UL)","keywords":["scientific instrument","history of chemistry","scientific heritage","National Museum of Natural History and Science","University of Lisbon"],"materials":["Metal"]},"5f18b902-02aa-5f60-bcb2-d6de493dfceb":{"name":"Implement to remove teeth.","description":"An implement similar to a pair of pliers that originally would have terminated with a saw-like edge, to facilitate a dentist in pulling, for instance, a septic tooth. The metal ring around the middle of the instrument would have moved and facilitated the doctor in manoeuvring the instrument, thus allowing him a better grip on the tooth. The early Muslims excelled in medicine and surgery, including dental medicine, and they created a number of instruments, which assisted them in carrying out different surgical operations, one of which is this.  \nSurgical operations included the use of general anaesthesia. For example an anaesthetic sponge was used; soaked in hashish oil, opium and belladonna; it was then dried in the sun. When the time came it was moistened and placed on the nose of the patient where the tranquilizing substances were absorbed by the patient's tissues sending him into a deep sleep, and thereby ensuring that he remained free from pain during surgery. Surgical instruments were subjected to processes of sterilisation in order that infection would not be transferred from one patient to another, especially in dentistry where the spread of infection was more likely. At this time Abu Bakr al-Razi (AH 251–313 / AD 865-925) had already arrived at the discovery of the preparation of alcohol which was used in the sterilisation of surgical instruments.","short_description":"Not only did Muslim physicians excel in diagnosis and treatment but they also invented tools that would help surgery in general and dentistry in particular. They used different kinds of anaesthetics and sterilised their surgical tools.","type":"Teeth remover, copper","holder":"Museum of Islamic Art","dates":"Hegira 3rd century / AD 9th century.","location":"Cairo","dimensions":"Length 10 cm.","method_for_datation":"This instrument was dated based on its discovery, along with a number of other surgical instruments, in the city of Fustat. During the Abbasid period the city was well-known for its flourishing scientific movement, especially in the fields of medicine and surgery. Al-Fatih ibn Khaqan, a minister of the Abbasid caliph, al-Mutawakkil 'ala Allah (r. 232–47 / 847–61) built a hospital in Fustat in 247 / 861. Ahmad ibn Tulun (r. 254–70 / 868–84) also built the *al-'Alaa* Hospital in 254 / 868 in Fustat.","method_for_provenance":"It is likely that this instrument was produced in Egypt as it was discovered during archaeological excavations in Fustat along with a number of similar surgical instruments.","provenance":"Egypt.","obtention":"The instrument was donated to the museum by Doctor Henry Amin 'Awad in 1975. He is a well known Egyptian specialist of skin diseases and has a wide range of interests in Islamic archaeological artefacts; he has written a number of works in this field.","bibliography":"–––––––, *Quand les sciences parlent arabe VIIIe-XVe ap. J.-C./IIe-IXe siècle H*,exhibition catalogue, Cairo, 2003.  \nFarukh, O., *Tarikh al-'ulum 'ind al-Arab \\[History of Arab Sciences\\],* Beirut, 1980.  \nHoncke, S., *Shams al-Arab tastaa' ala al-gharb \\[The Sun of the Arabs Shines on the West\\]* (Trans. Baidun, Farouq Wadso, Kamal), Beirut, 1981.  \nMuntasir, Abd al-Halim, *Tarikh al-'ilm wa dor al-'ulama al-Arab fi takadumihu \\[History of Science and the Role of Arab Scholars in its Advancement\\],* Cairo, 1980.  \n'Awad, Henry Amin, “Al-Jiraha fi al-'asr al-Islami \\[Surgery in the Islamic period\\]”, *Majalat Dirasat al-Athariya al-Islamiya \\[Journal of Islamic Archaeological Studies\\],* Vol. 3, Cairo, 1988.","dynasty":"Abbasid","author":"Al-Sayyed Muhammad Khalifa Hammad","copy_editor":"Majd Musa","translator":"Amal Sachedina (from the Arabic).","translation_copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["cast copper","hospital","medicine","Sciences","surgery","Surgical instrument"],"materials":["Cast copper."]},"707017b0-ac19-5968-8e9b-29b8a4f1aeab":{"name":"Weighing armchair","short_description":"Weighing armchairs were used for medical purposes. Early metabolism studies were made by weighing the test subjects before and after eating or any other activities. They were also used to weigh handicapped people and old patients who could not stand up. The chair is made of polished brown walnut wood. There are two rows of metal plates in front of the seating area. There is a decoration made by punched holes on the backside of the armchair. There is a wooden footrest attached with metal bars to the main body of the armchair. On the rear side there is a weighing mechanism.","type":"Medical material","holder":"Cerrahpaşa Medical History Museum","dates":"1890–1923","location":"Istanbul","dimensions":"Width 55 cm, height 108 cm","provenance":"Istanbul","copy_editor":"Daniel de la Vega","keywords":["Health","medical equipment"],"materials":["Wood and metal"]},"7ef4da57-b989-5c8a-b7bd-e74673870ad0":{"name":"Aqueducts around Jericho No.7","description":"An original plan from the survey of Western Palestine showing the aqueducts bringing water from the wadies Fara, Kelt and Nuwayimeh into the Jericho oasis. These aqueducts date from the Hellenistic era onwards, and were used and added to for centuries well into the Islamic era. Note in particular how they feed into the Umayyad period Khirbet al Mafjar, a huge agricultural estate and palace, and the Mamluk period sugar mill, Tawaheen es Sukkar.","type":"Manuscript map, elevation drawings","holder":"Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF)","owner":"Palestine Exploration Fund","initial_owner":"Palestine Exploration Fund","dates":"AH 1290 / AD 1873","location":"London","place_of_production":"Palestine","method_for_datation":"Recorded dates of the survey","method_for_provenance":"Palestine Exploration Fund project","provenance":"Palestine, Survey of Western Palestine field drawing","obtention":"Created for the PEF during the survey of Western Palestine, 1872–1878","bibliography":"Warren, C., *The Survey of Western Palestine-Jerusalem*, London: Legare Street Press, 2022.","workshop":"Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF)","dynasty":"Ottomans","author":"Felicity Cobbing","copy_editor":"Judy Harter","keywords":["Photography, Jericho, aqueduct, sugar mill, Mamluk"],"materials":["Paper, pencil, pen and ink"]},"7f8a48e3-b8ea-55d5-9114-484b7cc5c0a2":{"name":"*Thymus ciliatus* Benth. Presently: *Thymus munbyanus* subsp. coloratus (Boiss. & Reut.) Greuter & Burdet","short_description":"Natural History Museums were an important institution for scientific researching, exchange and circulate ideas and natural knowledge. This object is a Herbarium and the specimen was collected in Algeria, on the Lions Mountain, near Oran, in May 1850 by Giles Munby. The aromatic leaves are grey-green, covered with hairs. The pink flowers are crowded into terminal clusters. It is a drought tolerant species from NW Africa (Algeria and Morocco). It is included in the first Centuria of Plantae Algeriensis Exciccatae, distributed to different herbaria. It is used as a medicinal plant in its area of occurrence.","type":"Herbarium specimen","holder":"National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) / Museums of the University of Lisbon","dates":"1850","location":"Lisbon","dimensions":"40 x 25 cm","provenance":"Algeria","author":"Ana Isabel Correia (FCUL/MUHNAC-UL)","keywords":["Herbarium","vascular plant","aromatic","North Africa","National Museum of Natural History and Science","University of Lisbon"],"materials":["Pressed and dried plant, glued on paper"]},"803bdaca-8310-5038-ad10-5c3aca20a66a":{"name":"Estácio Pharmacy","short_description":"Estacio Pharmacy in Porto founded in 1883 starts to produce the first pills medication, within the scientific development of the 18th century end. The preparation of manipulated medicines in the apothecaries of the Catholic monasteries  and convents (Boticas de Convento) was  replaced by the production of medicines by Laboratorial Pharmacies.","type":"Pharmacy; medical equipment","holder":"Pharmacy Museum","dates":"c. 1890–1910","location":"Porto","provenance":"Porto","author":"Paula Basso","keywords":["Pharmacy","Oporto","Pills","Chemistry industry"],"materials":["Wood and glass"]},"80bf7d8a-befa-587f-8452-207110b874a9":{"name":"Map of the Sykes–Picot Agreement and Historical Note","description":"The lines drawn on the map and the lines drawn in the portrait bear the marks of the same authority: both the border and the identity are shaped by the tip of the pen. During the First World War, Britain and France secretly agreed, with Russia’s approval, to divide the Ottoman Middle East. With a few strokes of the pen, new frontiers were drawn across the lands once linked by the Hijaz Railway. These lines silenced local voices, fragmented communities and reshaped territories. Decisions made behind closed doors by imperial powers set the political, social and cultural course of the region for generations to come.","type":"Map","holder":"Bibliothèque nationale de France (BNF)","dates":"1916","location":"Paris","dimensions":"80 x 72 cm"},"8156c3ae-ba08-58a6-9fc3-bd29004780ae":{"name":"Astrolabe of ‘Umar ibn Yusuf ibn ‘Umar ibn ‘Ali ibn Rasul al-Muzaffari","short_description":"This astrolabe is unusually well documented for an object produced during the medieval period. Its inscription attributes it to a Rasulid prince, ‘Umar ibn Yusuf, a few years before he ascended to the throne (r. 1295–96). ‘Umar compiled a number of scientific treatises, including one on the construction of astrolabes, an autographed version of which is preserved in Cairo and contains certifications by his teachers as to his competence as a maker of such devices and a description of this very piece.","type":"Metalwork","holder":"The Metropolitan Museum of Art","dates":"Dated Hegira 690 / AD 1291","location":"New York","dimensions":"Case (a): Max. W: 19.4cm, Diameter: 15.6cm, D: 0.6cm; Bar with attached nail (b): Max. H: 4.8cm, Max. W: 2.9cm, L: 12.7cm; Net (c): Diameter: 12.7cm; Plates (d-g): Diameter: 12.7cm; Pin (h): L: 4.4cm, W: 1.3cm","provenance":"Yemen","obtention":"Edward C. Moore Collection, Bequest of Edward C. Moore, 1891  \nMaker: ‘Umar ibn Yusuf ibn ‘Umar ibn ‘Ali ibn Rasul al-Muzaffari  \nFormer owner: Edward C. Moore, American, New York 1827–1891 New York, New York (until d. 1891; bequeathed to MMA)","bibliography":"Dimand, Maurice S., \"Specimens of Mohammedan Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art\", *Metropolitan Museum Studies*, 1/1 (November 1928): 107, ill. fig. 8 (b/w).  \nDjebbar, Ahmed, *L'Age d'Or des Sciences Arabes*, Paris: Institut du Monde Arabe, 2005: 98-99, no. 26, ill. fig. 26 (colour).  \nEkhtiar, Maryam, Canby, Shelia R., Haidar, Navina and Soucek, Priscilla P. (eds), *Masterpieces from the Department of Islamic Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art*, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011: 158-159, no. 107, ill. 158 (colour).  \nEttinghausen, Richard (ed), *The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York*, Berlin: Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz Berlin, 1981: 146-147, no. 56, ill. 147 (colour).  \nKing, David A., *Islamic Astronomy and Geography*, Farnham, England: Ashgate, 2012: 156, ill. fig. 9.6.  \nWalker, Daniel S., Ponce Guadián, Arturo, Babaie, Sussan, Carboni, Stefano, Froom, Aimee, Swietochowski, Marie Lukens, Masuya, Tomoko, Daskalakis-Matthews, Annie Christine, Kahil, Abdallah and Kessler, Rochelle, *Arte Islámico del Museo Metropolitano de Arte de Nueva York. Colegio de San Ildefonso, Septiembre de 1994-Enero de 1995*, Mexico City: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, 1994: 206-207, no. 81, ill. 207 (b/w).","dynasty":"Rasulid","copyright":"The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Edward C. Moore Collection, Bequest of Edward C. Moore, 1891","keywords":["astronomical instrument","astronomy","brass","Rasulid","science","scientific object","timekeeping","Yemen"],"materials":["Brass","cast and hammered, pierced, chased, inlaid with silver"]},"827d2b0c-14c4-5af4-883c-a966ae4b929e":{"name":"Astrolabe.","description":"This astrolabe has six plates on its obverse side with 12 location points. Only six place-names have been designated: Fez, Marrakesh, Tripoli, Egypt and the holy towns of Mecca and Medina. The whole is covered by a fretted plate equipped with curved needles that refer to 26 stars. The Arabic letters mainly represent alphabetical monograms that are executed in slender 'astronomical' *kufic*\\-style calligraphy, which is so termed because, although it disappeared from use from the AH 12th / AD 18th century, the *kufic* style remained popular for use on astronomical instruments. These monograms are placed according to a Maghrebi classification system.  \nThe reverse side features a small pivoting ruler that has two plates pierced with holes.  \nThe border on the back is divided into two quadrants, followed by the zodiac cycle, and then by a Maghrebi calendar in the Christian tradition, which is another characteristic of astrolabes from the Muslim West. It should be noted that the Muslim calendar was solely a lunar one; the fact that this astrolabe has a Christian calendar shows that, for certain times, the data was calculated in accordance with both the solar month and the lunar month.  \nThis example was kept in a woven yellow ochre pocket bag with black trimming. This type of astrolabe was very common in North Africa in the AH 11th and 12th / AD 17th and 18th centuries. Several feature signatures. Morocco was one of the main centres of production.","short_description":"Astrolabe with six plates on the front indicating location points. An openwork plate fitted with pointers bears alphabetic *kufic* figures arranged in the Maghrebian order. On the back there is a pivoting scale, two dials and a characteristic zodiac arranged according to the Christian system.","type":"Scientific instrument","holder":"National Museum of Cirta","dates":"Hegira 11th–12th century / AD 17th–18th century.","location":"Constantine","dimensions":"Diameter 13.5 cm.","method_for_datation":"Comparison with similarly dated instruments.","method_for_provenance":"The slender *kufic* Maghrebi characters, the Christian calendar and the values of the monograms, distinguish it as a Moroccan astrolabe; furthermore, the names of two Moroccan towns are inscribed onto two tympana; the instrument thus probably comes from either Fez or Marrakesh.","provenance":"Marrakesh or Fez, Morocco.","bibliography":"Hartner, W., “Asturlãb”, *Encyclopédie de l'islam*, Vol. 1, pp.744–9.","dynasty":"Alawid (?)","author":"Houria Cherid","copy_editor":"Margot Cortez","translator":"Maria Vlotides","translation_copy_editor":"Monica Allen","keywords":["astrolabe","astronomical instrument","datebook","discipline","learning","Maghrebi calendar","monogram","Planetary device","science","symbol"],"materials":["Yellow copper, cut-out, engraved and pierced."]},"869b29bc-51fe-528b-b3a2-1d11954beeb5":{"name":"The Jami‘ al-Mabadi’ wa’l-Ghayat of al-Marrakushi","description":"Abu ‘Ali al-Hasan al-Marrakushi’s treatise, compiled c. 680 AH (AD 1281–2) in Cairo, is the most important written source for medieval Islamic astronomical instruments and includes discussions of sundials, armillary spheres, astrolabes and quadrants for determining time from solar altitude.  \n  \nIt is copied in *naskh* script with 28 lines to the page.","type":"Treatise / Compendium","holder":"Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, London","owner":"Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art","dates":"AH 1070 (AD 1659–60)","location":"London","dimensions":"30.8cm x 19.2cm","place_of_production":"Iran or India","method_for_datation":"dated AH 1070 (AD 1659–60)","bibliography":"Maddison, F. and Savage-Smith, E., *Science, Tools & Magic. The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, vol. XII. Part One: Body and Spirit Mapping the Universe, London: The Nour Foundation, 1997: cat. 118, pp. 190-2, 200.  \n  \nRogers, J.M., *The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from the Khalili Collection*, London: Thames & Hudson, 2010: cat. 368, p. 311.*","dynasty":"Safavid or Mughal","catalogue_holding_link":"https://www.khalilicollections.org/collections/islamic-art/khalili-collection-islamic-art-kitab-al-masalik-wal-mamalik-of-al-istakhri-mss972/","author":"Qaisra Khan","keywords":["Metalwork, water-scoop, ottomans, water"],"materials":["Ink, gold and opaque watercolour on paper","leather binding with flap"]},"885fddf1-77ce-5cb4-849f-e54d4e7280e2":{"name":"Astrolabe","short_description":"This rare astrolabe is considered to be one of the oldest known dated astrolabes from Muslim Spain. It was made by the celebrated Andalusi astrolabist, Muhammad ibn al-Saffar in Cordoba, dated 411 AH / 1020 AD as mentioned in the signature within a square space at the back of its mater. The date follows the Arabic alphanumeric system known as *abjad*. The year is marked by a combination of letters *ta-ya-alif*, that corresponds to *ta* (400), *ya* (10) and *alif* (1), which totals up to 411. The astrolabe contains six plates which correspond to two localities for each plate, among which are Makkah, Damascus, Cairo and Cordoba. The rete, on the other hand, is a new addition from the 17th-century Ottoman Turkey. The maker of this astrolabe, Muhammad ibn al-Saffar (d. 1029) made several astrolabes and other scientific instruments with at least three are known to survive and are today scattered in different museums.","type":"Metalwork","holder":"Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia","dates":"Hegira 411 / AD 1020","location":"Kuala Lumpur","dimensions":"Measurement: L: 19cm (with hinges), D: 12.2cm, T: 1.2cm","provenance":"Spain, Cordoba","dynasty":"Umayyad","materials":["Carved and engraved brass"]},"8c5bd2b7-5767-58df-9aca-d0fdbe20c4ea":{"name":"Portable pharmacy","short_description":"The Arab world was a territory to discover but with a individual pharmacy travel case in order to face different diseases.","type":"Pharmacy; medical equipment","holder":"Pharmacy Museum","dates":"c. 1880–1900","location":"Lisbon","dimensions":"Height 32,40 cm","provenance":"Italy","author":"Paula Basso","keywords":["Travelling","África","Pharmacy"],"materials":["Wood, glass, white metal, brass"]},"90784455-0cab-5e8d-b78a-45d2891efa16":{"name":"Universal astrolabe","short_description":"The astrolabe was made by Ahmad ibn al-Sarraj for Muhammad al-Tanukhi in the year of the Hijra 729. The border of the disc is inscribed with the names of four owners, two of them are named *muwaqqit* i.e. astronomers employed for religious purposes. It is the only known specimen of an Islamic universal astrolabe. Ahmad ibn al-Sarraj probably lived in Aleppo in the early 14th century and he is the author of treatises on mathematics and astronomy.","type":"Scientific instrument, metalwork","holder":"Benaki Museum","dates":"Hegira 729 / AD 1328-29","location":"Athens","dimensions":"Diameter 20 cm","provenance":"Syria, probably Aleppo","dynasty":"Mamluk","keywords":["Ahmad ibn al-Sarraj","astrolabe","metalwork"],"materials":["Brass"]},"90e620af-4d11-5f42-a4a6-000de55134c6":{"name":"Illusionist Collages to be deciphered obliquely","description":"Two pictures made from coloured paper strips, exactingly juxtaposed and glued in successive layers, and strategically placed to allow different images to appear from distinct angles. Both pictures, which once belonged to the Cabinet of Physics of the Colégio de Nobres were used to illustrate visual effects. A seated young boy playing cards and a man laughing can be seen in one picture. In the other picture one of three images can be observed in succession from different angles: a woman playing a fife, a boy sitting at a table feeding his dog and an old usurer. Both pictures are framed in black painted wood, ornamented with gold motifs and protected with a glass. The set can be removed from the frame by opening a side lock and pulling a ring-pull.","short_description":"Two pictures that when observed from different angles change to another image are an example of optical phenomena of 18th-century physics. In one of the pictures two images appear and in the other three images are discerned.","type":"Didactic instrument","holder":"Museum of Physics, University of Coimbra","owner":"Physics and Science Museum, University of Coimbra","initial_owner":"*Colégio de Nobres* (College of Noblemen)","dates":"Before 1768","location":"Coimbra, Coimbra","dimensions":"H: 28 cm; w: 35 cm; d: 3 cm","place_of_production":"Lisbon (?)","method_for_datation":"These two pictures are mentioned in an inventory of the Colégio de Nobres’, undated. They were probably executed between 1766 and 1768.","provenance":"Cabinet of Physics","obtention":"These pictures once belonged to the Cabinet of Physics of the Colégio de Nobres in Lisbon and were transferred to the University of Coimbra in 1773.","bibliography":"Dalla Bella, G. A., *Index Instrumentorum*, 26 de Julho de 1788.  \nSilva, M, A., \"Um novo museu em Coimbra: O museu pombalino de Física que a reforma pombalina criou em 1772\", *Revista da Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade*, 1940, Vol. IX, No. 1.  \nCarvalho, R., *História do Gabinete de Física da Universidade de Coimbra*, Coimbra, 1978, pp. 540–541.","copyright":"Copyright images: Museu de Física da Universidade de Coimbra.","author":"Ermelinda Antunes","translator":"Manuel Silva Pereira, Paulo Gama Mota","translation_copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["Colégio de Nobres","education","optics","physics cabinet","science","Scientific instruments","university"],"materials":["Wood, paper and glass"]},"91a520f6-9937-54cd-a224-0a3b83e3587f":{"name":"Azurite","short_description":"Two aggregates of azurite prismatic crystals with a radial distribution. Azurite is a copper carbonate mineral, of chemical formula Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2. Its name comes from the antiquity for its deep blue colour after the Arabian azure that came from the Persian lazhward. Azurite crystals conform to the monoclinic system of symmetry. In this sample they are prismatic, opaque and their faces present striations. The lustre is vitreous. Azurite was used as a blue pigment for centuries, providing a wide range of blues. It is also used as jewellery and as an ornamental stone. As a secondary mineral found in the oxidized portions of copper deposits, the presence of Azurite is a good surface indicator of the presence of copper ores. This sample was collected at the Touissit Mine, near Oudja, Morocco.","type":"Mineral","holder":"National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) / Museums of the University of Lisbon","dates":"c. 1920","location":"Lisbon","dimensions":"9.5 cm x 7.5 cm x 4.0 cm","provenance":"Morocco","author":"Liliana Póvoas (MUHNAC-UL)","keywords":["Azurite","carbonate mineral","monoclinic system","copper","pigment","jewellery","National Museum of Natural History and Science","University of Lisbon"],"materials":["Azurite crystals"]},"940d00ac-1015-5d53-8ce3-ab0f77662dcf":{"name":"Ain es Sultan, 50 sq. miles","description":"An original field map from the Survey of Western Palestine showing the water courses feeding into the Jordan Valley and River in the Jericho oasis.","type":"Manuscript map","holder":"Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF)","owner":"Palestine Exploration Fund","initial_owner":"Palestine Exploration Fund","dates":"AH 1290 / AD 1873","location":"London","place_of_production":"Palestine","method_for_datation":"Recorded dates of the survey.","method_for_provenance":"Palestine Exploration Fund project.","provenance":"Palestine, Survey of Western Palestine field map","obtention":"Created for the PEF during the Survey of Western Palestine, AH 1872 - 1282 / AD 1872–1878","bibliography":"Warren, C., *The Survey of Western Palestine-Jerusalem*, London: Legare Street Press, 2022.","workshop":"Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF)","dynasty":"Ottomans","artist_birthdate":"AH 1872 - 1282 / AD 1872–1875","author":"Felicity Cobbing","copy_editor":"Judy Harter","keywords":["Survey, map, Jericho, aqueduct, Umayyad, Mamluk"],"materials":["Tracing paper, pencil, pen and ink"]},"9892afbf-5858-5187-a107-9629faacf1c5":{"name":"Astrolabe","short_description":"This bronze astrolabe was made in the early 19th century during the Qajar period in Iran. For many centuries astrolabes were used as universal instruments by astronomers, surveyors, and astrologers, serving as both a timer and a calendar. However, they were most commonly owned by the wealthy for representative purposes as a decorative object.  \nThe astrolabe consists of three elements: the mater, the rete, and the alidade. The *mater*, a bronze disk which serves as a base, holds the instrument's individual parts together. The front surface of the disk is concave with an ornamented rim; this particular astrolabe has a map on its *mater*. The *rete*, placed on top the *mater*, acts as a star chart, indicating the positions of the stars, and in this instance is decorated with a zodiac ring, engraved flowers, and star names. The alidade can be aligned to measure the altitude of the sun or a star in the sky. The astrolabe is divided into four zones by ornamented, concentric circles; rectangles fill the space between the circles, each of which are filled with numbers and characters. On the other side, the gradation and height scale of the pointed star or point can be determined. To hang or to hold the astrolabe, a movable ring is attached. The front of the base is decorated with an inscription panel; the back side has engraved floral garlands as decoration. This inscription is dedicated to Fath-Ali Shah.","type":"Metalwork","holder":"MKG Museum for Applied Arts","dates":"Hegira ca. 13th century / AD early 19th century","location":"Hamburg","dimensions":"Diameter: 23.5cm","method_for_datation":"Dated through the inscription.","method_for_provenance":"Purchased at the auction Spitzer, Paris, (Cat.No.2892).","provenance":"Iran","obtention":"Purchased in 1893.","bibliography":"King, D. A., *In Synchrony with the Heavens. Studies in Astronomical Timekeeping and Instrumentation in Medieval Islamic Civilization. Instruments of Mass Calculation Theology and Science*, vol. 2, Leiden: Brill, 2005.  \nNeubauer, E. and Sezgin, F., *Wissenschaft und Technik im Islam*, vol. 2, Frankfurt am Main: Institut für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften an der Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe-Universität, 2003.","dynasty":"Qajar","copy_editor":"Caitlin Link","keywords":["astrolabe","Astrolabium","science"],"materials":["Bronze","Engraving"]},"98b9d80b-38b8-5e8a-a9b7-1a6d821098d6":{"name":"Fragment of a box with a combination lock","short_description":"This combination lock is the work of the astrolabe-maker Muhammad ibn Hamid al-Asturlabi al-Isfahani in 597 H.  \nThe four double dials, each of which can be set in 16 positions, allows for 4,294,967,296 combinations. When the right combination is entered, it releases the inner metal plate, attached both to an external handle and to the locking mechanism itself.","type":"Box, metal work , cast, silver, copper","holder":"The David Collection","dates":"Hegira 597 / AD 1200–1201","location":"Copenhagen","provenance":"Iran, Isfahan?","dynasty":"Seljuqs (Great Seljuqs)","keywords":["Box","brass","cast","figurative decoration","science","scientific object"],"materials":["Cast and hammered brass, inlaid with silver and copper"]},"9bc4738a-149f-58cd-8ef4-babead8e025c":{"name":"Planispheric Astrolabe","short_description":"A planispheric astrolabe with a flat brass disk, a triangular projection at the top (*kursi*), and two suspension rings. Six plates sit inside it, held in place with an openwork star map (*ankabut*), which is fastened to the ruler on the verso with a horse that projects outward. This astrolabe is exact in scientific detail and contains the requisite inscriptions and tables without superfluity. The front of the instrument contains a movable star chart or rete (*ankabut* in Arabic), with 42 leaves pointing to the stars and with a smaller off-center circle representing the elliptic. Behind the rete is placed a brass disk inscribed with circles of equal altitude for a particular observer. Thirty nested circles, beginning with the horizon and reaching the point of the zenith, indicate circles of equal altitude on the sky, each three degrees higher than the one outside it. Additional arcs on the plate divide the sky in azimuth, and below the horizon parts of still more circles display the equal and unequal hours used for time reckoning.  \nBecause a plate applies to a particular latitude only, a variety of plates are generally provided; an unusually large number, six plates, each inscribed on both sides, are included with this astrolabe. Five of the plates serve for the following pairs of latitudes: 18 and 20 degrees; 22 and 24 degrees; 28 and 30 degrees; 32 and 34 degrees; 36 and 38 degrees (the designer omitted 26 degrees because no major town in the Middle East falls near this latitude). The plates for the latitudes of Persia (32, 34 and 36 degrees) have particularly elaborate decorations surrounding the inscriptions. The sixth plate contains on one side a typical \"tablet of horizons\" and on the other a grid of ecliptic coordinates.  \nUnderneath all the plates, in the so-called \"womb\" of the astrolabe, is a gazetteer containing the longitudes and latitudes of 46 towns; in addition it lists the azimuth of Mecca, and for the innermost series also the direction to Mecca.  \nA moveable index for measuring the altitudes of the sun or stars, called an alidade, is fastened on the back side of the instrument; on this astrolabe the alidade is not decorated and is either unfinished or, more likely, a later replacement. Similarly, the \"horse\" that holds the alidade and plates in place is also a replacement. On the upper part of the back side, within the decorative bracket called the \"*kursi*,\" a hole has been drilled for a magnetic compass, which is now missing.  \nThe entire back surface of the astrolabe combines calligraphy with a compact assortment of astronomical graphs and tables. The finely calibrated upper left quadrant gives sines and cosines, whereas the rectangular \"shadow box\" below the center yields tangents. The almost vertical arcs in the upper right quadrant show the seasonal height of the noon-day sun for various latitudes, and the nearly horizontal arcs give the seasonal height of the sun when it is in the azimuth of Mecca as seen from seven cities: Tus, Yazd, Isfahan, Qazvin, Basra, Baghdad and Shiraz. Semicircular tables on the lower quadrants consist of the decorated names of the zodiacal signs, flanked on the inside by the astrological \"faces\" and lunar mansions and on the outside by the astrological \"limits\" and the list of planets ruling each of the limits. Within this shadow box is a 4 x 10 grid of symbols exhibiting the astrological triplicities of zodiacal signs as well as the planetary lords of the signs by day and by night.","type":"Metalwork","holder":"Saint Louis Art Museum","dates":"Hegira 1127 / AD 1715","location":"Saint Louis","dimensions":"Height: 28.3cm, Width: 18.4cm, Depth: 3.5cm","method_for_datation":"Scholarly review and/or comparison to similar objects from the period.","method_for_provenance":"Astrolabes were used for astronomical and mathematical calculations. This one is signed by two famous astrolabe makers who worked both together and separately in the Iranian city of Isfahan.","provenance":"Isfahan, Iran, Asia","obtention":"Museum Purchase, 1926","dynasty":"Safavid","keywords":["Asia","astrolabe","brass","Iran","Isfahan","metalwork","Persian"],"materials":["Brass"]},"9dd60e86-bef2-5b84-bc64-d726595a61b1":{"name":"Armillary sphere from the Grammar School, Varaždin","description":"An armillary sphere used as an astrological instrument to teach the distances between planets and stars and to measure time in the Jesuit Grammar School in Varaždin. Engraved on the ring of the sphere are the signs of the Zodiac.  \nThe grammar school, founded by the Jesuit order in 1636, continued under the headship of the order until 1773 when Pope Clement XIV extinguished the order with his Bull of Suppression. The curriculum at the school was according to the Jesuit system and teaching was in Latin. Immediately after the suppression of the Jesuits, by decree of Empress Maria Theresia the Bishop of Zagreb, Josip Galjuf, took over the grammar school in Varaždin and other schools in Croatia and Slavonia. He appointed Anton Rajšp, former Jesuit and doctor of theology, as head of the grammar school. The Pauline order took over the school in 1776 but after suppression of the order by decree of Emperor Joseph II, Anton Rajšp became the head of the school again.","short_description":"An armillary sphere used as an astrological instrument to teach the distances between planets and stars and to measure time in the Jesuit Grammar School in Varaždin. Engraved on the ring of the sphere are the signs of the Zodiac.  \nFounded by the Jesuit order in 1636, the school continued under the headship of the order until 1773 when Pope Clement XIV extinguished the order with his Bull of Suppression. By decree of Empress Maria Theresia the Bishop of Zagreb, Josip Galjuf, took over the grammar school and other schools in Croatia and Slavonia. He appointed Anton Rajšp, former Jesuit and doctor of theology, as head of the grammar school.","type":"Timepiece","holder":"City Museum, Varaždin","dates":"First half of the 18th century","location":"Varaždin, North-West Croatia","dimensions":"H: 30 cm; diameter: 32 cm","method_for_datation":"The object is dated by an inscription.","provenance":"From the former Jesuit Grammar School in Varaždin","obtention":"From the former Jesuit Grammar School in Varaždin.","bibliography":"Klemm, M., *Stari satovi u muzejima sjeverozapadne Hrvatske* (Old clocks in the Museum of North-West Croatia), exhibition catalogue, Varaždin, 1990.  \n*Od svagdana do blagdana. Barok u Hrvatskoj. Katalog izložbe* (From Everyday to Holidays: Baroque in Croatia), exhibition catalogue, Zagreb, 1993, p. 317.  \nTežak, S., *Povijesni pregled varaždinskih škola u 18. stoljeću. 300 godina Uršulinki u Varaždinu* (Historical Survey of Schools in Varaždin in the Eighteenth Century: Three Hundred Years of the Ursulines in Varaždin), Zagreb-Varaždin, 2003.","author":"Ljerka Šimunić, Nela Tarbuk","translator":"Nikolina Jovanović","translation_copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["astronomical instrument","astronomy","education","Jesuit","Jesuit Grammar School","religious schools","science","scientific instrument","scientific object","teaching"],"materials":["Brass, wood, paper"]},"9f4dd257-a6bc-5852-b6b1-45af52c3e4f7":{"name":"Military Medical kit of Carol Davila","short_description":"In the second half of the 19th century, French doctor Carol Davila played an important role in the development of the Romanian medical system. He came to Bucharest in 1853, sent by the French government at the request of Wallachian prince Barbu Stirbei who needed a specialist to form well trained Romanian doctors. Davila was named medic of the army and later general inspector of the country’s sanitary service and he was the founder of a medicine and pharmacy school. Among other decorations he received for his activity, he was awarded two Ottoman ones (the Orders of Medjidie and of Osmanie), the first for curing Ottoman soldiers who contracted cholera during the Ottoman occupation of Wallachia (1855), and the other for treating wounded Ottoman soldiers during the Russian-Ottoman war of 1877-1878.","type":"Medical kit","holder":"National Museum of Romanian History","dates":"1877–1878","location":"Bucharest","provenance":"France"},"9f4ec4b3-5bb8-51d7-b82f-ba92ec74033b":{"name":"Spoon.","alternate_name":"Medical implement to press down the tongue.","description":"An implement that resembles a spoon, with one end that has a flattened oval shape. The object was probably used by doctors during the examination of the mouth and throat and in the course of surgery to remove the tonsils. Excavations which took place in the city of Fustat – the first capital of Islamic Egypt established by Amr ibn al-'As in the year AH 21 / AD 641 – revealed a large cache of surgical instruments, considered to be the oldest extant of their kind. Instruments similar to those which were uncovered in Fustat have appeared in the descriptions of the surgeon from al-Andalus, Abu al-Qasim Khalaf bin al-'Abbas al-Zahrawi (AH 329–404 / AD 940–1013), in his surgical encyclopaedia, *Al-Tasrif liman 'ajaz 'an al-Taalif*, considered the richest and largest source of surgical knowledge of the period, and an important medical and surgical reference book in the centuries that followed. The encyclopaedia contains more than 150 illustrations of surgical instruments with detailed descriptions about using them in different surgical operations.","short_description":"Muslim physicians knew surgery and practised it. This tool demonstrates that physicians gave much importance to medicine and medical tools in various areas of treatment and how they developed them. A detailed description of these tools can be found in the book of al-Zahrawi, an Andalusian surgeon.","type":"Spoon, copper","holder":"Museum of Islamic Art","dates":"Hegira 3rd century / AD 9th century.","location":"Cairo","dimensions":"Length 12.5 cm.","method_for_datation":"The implement is dated based on information from various historical sources that attest to the flourishing state of medicine and associated sciences during the Abbasid period.","method_for_provenance":"It is likely that the object was produced in Egypt, since it was discovered in the city of Fustat. Furthermore, the flourishing state of the sciences, especially medicine, and the numerous hospitals in Egypt during this time make an Egyptian provenance likely.","provenance":"Egypt.","obtention":"The object was donated to the museum by Doctor Henry Amin 'Awad in 1975. As a scholar he is greatly interested in the study of human heritage, especially the Islamic arts, and he has made a number of studies in this field.","bibliography":"Abd al-Rahim, Abd al-Rahim Khalaf, *Al-Adawat Jirahiya wa al-Awani al-Tibiya fi al-'asr al-Islami min al-Qarn al-Awal hatta al-Qarn al-Tasi' lil Hijra \\[Surgical Instruments and Medical Vessels in the Islamic Period from the First Century to the Ninth Century\\],* MA thesis, University of Cairo, 1999.  \n–––––––, **Quand les sciences parlent arabe VIIIe-XVe ap. J.-C./IIe-IXe siècle H*,* Cairo, exhibition catalogue, 2003.  \nHoncke, *S.,Shams al-Arab tastaa' ala al-gharb \\[Sun of the Arabs Shines on the West\\] (Trans.* Baidun, Farouq Wadso, Kamal), *Beirut, 1981.*  \n'Awad, H. A., “Al- Jiraha fi al-'asr al-Islami \\[Surgery in the Islamic Period\\]”, *Majalat al-Dirasat al-Islamiya \\[Journal of Islamic Studies\\],* Vol. 3, Cairo, 1988, p.273.","dynasty":"Abbasid","author":"Al-Sayyed Muhammad Khalifa Hammad","copy_editor":"Majd Musa","translator":"Amal Sachedina (from the Arabic).","translation_copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["cast copper","Copper","hospital","medical instrument","medicine","Sciences","surgery","Surgical instrument"],"materials":["Cast copper."]},"a3cbcd9b-cf11-5b68-9f33-19a8c46c9df8":{"name":"Map of the Ottoman province (vilayet) of Damascus marking the Hijaz Railway line in red.","description":"The map is part of the Pocket Atlas of the Ottoman Lands: The Geographical and Statistical Conditions of the Ottoman State. It depicts the territories extending from the Hama region in the north through Damascus, the Hauran, and Jordan to the northern Hijaz. A red line begins at Hama and continues southward, representing the Hijaz Railway. A western branch extends toward the Mediterranean coast, corresponding to the railway connection between the main line and Haifa. The principal heading reads سوريه ولايتى, Vilayet of Syria. The vilayet was the principal provincial administrative unit established under the Ottoman provincial reforms of the nineteenth century. Vilayets were divided into sanjaks, and beneath the title the map identifies the four sanjaks of Damascus, Hama, Hauran, and Karak.","type":"Map, pocket atlas","holder":"Wolf-Dieter Lemke Collection","owner":"Wolf-Dieter Lemke Collection","dates":"AH 1324 / AD 1905","location":"Berlin","dimensions":"Height: 14,2 cm; width: 9,3 cm","provenance":"Collection of Wolf-Dieter Lemke, Berlin","bibliography":"Masters, Bruce, *The Arabs of the Ottoman Empire, 1516–1918: A Social and Cultural History*, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.","dynasty":"Ottoman","copy_editor":"Danielle Morcom","keywords":["Hijaz","Map","Syria","trainline","Türkiye"],"materials":["Paper, printed coloured pocket atlas"]},"a43858e3-8e59-51e3-a4ad-791bad0297de":{"name":"AC generator","description":"In 1891, Charles Brown of Great Britain and Walter Boveri of Germany started an electrical engineering business in canton of Aargau. During its first year, Brown, Boveri & Co. had 70 employees. Only ten years later, that number had grown to over 1500. This steep increase was partly due to the success of the alternating current generator which the company began to produce in 1895. Europe was just discovering the benefits of electricity and demand was growing by the day. Switzerland had been an immigration country for generations and offered its new residents opportunities to realise their entrepreneurial dreams. In addition to Brown and Boveri, these immigrant entrepreneurs included the Austrian Carl Franz Bally, the founder of the shoe factory that bears his name, as well as the German pharmacist Henri Nestlé. Other famous brands like Rolex, Maggi, and Hero also owe their existence to the initiative of immigrants. The Jacobs, Hayeks, and Huxleys of this world continue to drive the Swiss economy to this day – just like a powerful generator.","type":"Generator","holder":"Swiss National Museum","owner":"Regionalwerke AG Baden","dates":"1895","location":"Zurich","dimensions":"H: 123,5cm, W: 182cm, D: 109,5cm, Weight: 2,5 tons","method_for_datation":"Production of this Type of Generator began in 1895 in Baden","provenance":"Switzerland, Baden, canton of Aargau","obtention":"Depository of Regionalwerke AG Baden, 2009","workshop":"Brown Boveri SA","keywords":["Baden","Boveri","brown","Electricity","Generator"],"materials":["Steel, copper"]},"a8a7b007-ba46-517e-94a2-c79734028dc9":{"name":"Surgical scalpel.","description":"A surgical scalpel with a long handle tends in a sharp blade; the blade is less thick and less narrow than the handle. Excavations which took place in the city of Fustat – the first capital of Islamic Egypt established by Amr ibn al-'As in the year AH 21 / AD 641 – revealed a large cache of surgical instruments, considered to be the oldest extant of their kind. This collection demonstrates Islamic Egypt's remarkable progress in the fields of medicine and surgery.  \nThe Muslims excelled in the field of surgery from the early Islamic period. Historical sources and manuscripts provide information about the advancement of medical surgery in all parts of the Islamic world. Perhaps the doctor from al-Andalus, Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Zahrawi (AH 329–404 / AD 940–1013), is the most famous of the Muslim surgeons. He advised that surgeons should be familiar with anatomy and he emphasised the necessity of dissection as a means of acquiring knowledge of the human body, whereby the reasons for death could be ascertained and the benefits of seeing similar cases were exploited. Al-Zahrawi's most famous work is his encyclopaedia, *Al-Tasrif liman 'ajaz 'an al-Taalif,* which describes and illustrates more than 150 surgical instruments. When undertaking surgical operations Muslim surgeons took special care to sterilise the site of the operation; Al-Zahrawi demonstrated several ways to make a sterile environment in his encyclopaedia.  \nSurgical operations included the use of general anaesthesia. For example an anaesthetic sponge was used; soaked in hashish oil, opium, ray-grass, henbane and belladonna; it was then dried in the sun. When the time came it was moistened and placed on the nose of the patient where the tranquilizing substances were absorbed by the patient's tissues sending him into a deep sleep, thereby ensuring that the patient remained free from pain during surgery. Muslim surgeons used surgical thread made from animal gut such as cat gut. Al-Zahrawi taught his students how to sew up wounds with magical interior-stitching similar to that used in cosmetic surgery today. Al-Zahrawi's encyclopaedia covers cosmetic surgery, such as rectifying disfigurements to the lip, ear, nose, and he discusses surgery on the blood vessels. Muslim doctors practiced procedures of setting fractured bones and used splints and dressings for the treatment of fractured skulls, arms and shoulders. Perhaps the huge numbers of medical and surgical instruments extant demonstrate the extraordinary progress in the field of medicine and surgery in the Islamic world in the early period.","short_description":"This scalpel, discovered in the city of Fustat among a large collection of surgical tools, is proof of the wide variety of tools used by Muslim physicians in treatment and surgery.","type":"Scalpel, copper","holder":"Museum of Islamic Art","dates":"Hegira 3rd century / AD 9th century.","location":"Cairo","dimensions":"Length 16.5 cm.","method_for_datation":"The dating of this scalpel is based on information available in historical sources which relates to progress in the fields of medicine and surgery in Egypt during the Abbasid period. Furthermore, by comparison; in analysing illustrations of surgical instruments in al-Zahrawi's encyclopaedia, *al-Tasrif liman 'ajaz 'an al-Taalif* along with other contemporary medical works, with the instrument seen here.","method_for_provenance":"It is likely that the scalpel, along with the other surgical instruments discovered during archaeological excavations that took placed in the city of Fustat, were made in Egypt for there are no indications from the historical sources that instruments such as these were imported from outside the region. This is in addition to the fact that the fields of medicine and surgery flourished in Egypt during this period.","provenance":"Egypt.","obtention":"This object was discovered during the course of archaeological excavations, which took place at Fustat.","bibliography":"–––––––, **Quand les sciences parlent arabe VIIIe-XVe ap. J.-C./IIe-IXe siècle H**,exhibition catalogue,Cairo, 2003.  \n–––––––, “Catalogue Ishamat al-Hadara al-'Arabiya wa al-Islamiya fi al-'ulum al-Tibiya \\[Catalogue of the Contributions of Arab Civilization to the Medical Sciences\\]” *Makhtutat Dar al-Kutub al-Masriya \\[Manuscripts of the Dar al-Kutub al-Masriiya\\], Cairo, 2002.*  \nSayour, S. A., “La Medicina en la Epoca Islamica”, *Prisma, Magazine of the Ministry of Culture,* Cairo, No. 12, 2001, p.49.  \n'Awad, H. A., “Al-Jiraha fi al-'asr al-Islami \\[Surgery in the Islamic Period\\]”, *Majalat Dirasat al-Athariya al-Islamiya \\[Journal of Islamic Archaeological Studies\\],* Vol. 3, Cairo, 1988.","dynasty":"Abbasid","author":"Salah Sayour","copy_editor":"Majd Musa","translator":"Amal Sachedina (from the Arabic).","translation_copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["Copper","cosmetic","medicine","scalpel","surgery","Surgical instrument"],"materials":["Cast copper."]},"a8f4d9df-4a01-55fb-98f5-9b27f994af97":{"name":"Pharmacy bottles","short_description":"To travel with «quina» – cinchona plant – to the non European territories was really mandatory for health reasons, specially to attack malaria disease.","type":"Bottles; medical equipment","holder":"Pharmacy Museum","dates":"c. 1890–1910","location":"Lisbon","dimensions":"Height 28 cm x 7.80 cm, diameter 13.50 cm x 3.70 cm","provenance":"Germany","author":"Paula Basso","keywords":["Travelling","África","Pharmacy"],"materials":["Glass"]},"a9f4d4b8-28f3-5859-9dd0-a35478d37a9f":{"name":"Planispheric astrolabe","short_description":"This planispheric astrolabe was, as an inscription on its back states, made by Hamid ibn al-Khidr al-Khujandi, an eminent astronomer and mathematician at the court of the Buyid ruler Fakhr al-Dawla (r. AH 366-387 /AD 977-997). The rete of this particular astrolabe has markers for 33 stars, six of which are shown by the beaks of stylised birds. Markings on the back suggest that it may have been designed for use in Baghdad, possibly by another member of the Buyid family.","type":"Scientific instrument, metalwork","holder":"Museum of Islamic Art","dates":"Hegira 374 / AD 984-985","location":"Doha","dimensions":"Height: 21.1 cm, width:15.1 cm, depth:3.1 cm","provenance":"Iran, Rayy or Iraq, Baghdad","obtention":"Martine-Marie-Pol, Comtesse de Béhague (1870–1939); Jean-Louis, Marquis de Ganay (1922–2013) until  \n1970; Alain Brieux (1922–1985) in Paris until 1976; Jasim al-Homaizi Collection until 1999; sold to Qatar Museums","bibliography":"Allan, James W., *Metalwork Treasures from the Islamic Courts*, London: The Islamic Art Society, 2002.  \n  \nGonnella, Julia, et al, *Museum of Islamic Art: The Collection*, London: Thames & Hudson, 2022.  \n  \nSeipel, Joseph H., *God is Beautiful and Loves Beauty: The object in Islamic Art and Culture*, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013.  \n  \nSoueif, Ahdaf, *Reflections on Islamic Art*, Doha: Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing, 2011.","dynasty":"Buyid","author":"Tara Desjardins","keywords":["astrolabe","astronomy","Buyid","Hamid ibn al-Khidr al-Khujandi","Iran, Iraq, Buyid","metalwork","science"],"materials":["Brass, Iron, Black Compund","Casting, Openwork, Riveting, Engraving"]},"aa3d92ab-8ac6-563e-ac59-78aeb1947c64":{"name":"Snow cannon","description":"«Switzerland’s peaks are virtually devoid of snow, but in Savognin the snow falls from clear skies» wrote the newspaper Bündner Tagblatt on 9 December 1978. On that day, ten snow cannons provided enough snow for a three-kilometre piste on a green slope in the canton of Graubünden. When the first major artificial snow-blowing system in Europe went into operation, this marked the dawn of a new era in winter tourism. The snow cannons that caused a stir at the time are taken for granted today in every skiing resort of any size. Snow cannons were invented in Canada in 1940, when a team of researchers was studying the icing up of jet engines in a wind tunnel. While spraying water into a running turbine at sub-zero temperatures, the scientists had to contend with an undesirable side-effect: snow, which kept accumulating at the rear of the wind tunnel. What was an annoyance to those early researchers later became one of the biggest innovations in sports.","type":"Snow cannon","holder":"Swiss National Museum","owner":"Swiss Confederation","dates":"1978","location":"Zurich","dimensions":"H: 60cm, L: 48.5cm, W: 28cm, Diameter: 9.5cm","method_for_datation":"Documents","provenance":"Savognin, Switzerland","obtention":"Donated in 2003","keywords":["Canton of Graubünden","Canton of Grison","Climate Change","Savognin","Skiing","Snow","Snow cannon","Sports","Switzerland"],"materials":["Aluminium pipe with two jets"]},"aac7ff4c-14c4-5608-abb0-fe70488c219b":{"name":"Breguet travel clock","description":"Organisers of major sporting events, mountaineers, and even astronauts rely on Swiss timepieces today. In the past, military strategists who made history swore by Swiss clocks. For example, Napoleon Bonaparte used a pocket watch by Abraham-Louis Breguet at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. The clients of the watchmaker from the canton of Neuchâtel included not only the French general, but also his opponents: Both the Duke of Wellington and Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher devised their battle strategies with Breguet watches in their pockets. Apparently Breguet was more concerned with sales than with Swiss neutrality! Incidentally, Napoleon was a real Breguet fan and owned a total of three Breguet timepieces. The only one that has survived, however, is a travel clock kept in the Swiss National Museum.","type":"Clock","holder":"Swiss National Museum","owner":"Swiss Confederation","dates":"AD 1796","location":"Zurich","dimensions":"H: 11cm, W: 7,8cm, D: 5,8cm","method_for_datation":"Documents","provenance":"France, Paris","obtention":"Donated in 1991","keywords":["Abraham-Louis Breguet","Clock","Napoleon Bonaparte","Paris"],"materials":["Bronze, gilded"]},"ab91307f-d3d5-5f2a-88d0-9f2eb6934a29":{"name":"Qibla directional plate.","description":"Muslims must face the *qibla*, the direction of the Ka'ba in the city of Mecca, while praying. They therefore often need instruments to help pinpoint the direction of the Ka'ba. This plate is one such instrument. Its base is a round and flat area that has a circle of semi-vertical columns on it. Recorded around the centre of the circle is the name of the craftsperson and the place in which it was made (“made by Sayyid Thabit in Damascus”). Emanating from the centre towards the rim are tables in the form of a sequence of rings. These rings contain the names of a number of cities in three bands (Damascus, Baghdad, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Tehran, Kabul …), in addition to alphabets corresponding to numbers that indicate degrees of angles. The inner circumference of the plate's rim is marked by units, each of which is equivalent to five degrees and also the four cardinal directions (east, west, north, south), which are set in half circles.  \nThe exterior surface of the rim contains a two-line explanation in Arabic on how to use the instrument. In between these two lines are four medallions in which it is indicated that the plate was made by order of Sultan Salim I \"the triumphant champion of justice and supreme ruler \\[khaqan\\] who is the son of the supreme ruler, king of the two lands and the two seas, and servant of the two sanctuaries, may God immortalise his rule\". All this information is registered in black *kufic* script on a white background, and is covered with a transparent glaze.","short_description":"The scientific diagram inscribed on this ceramic dish served an important function. A schematic arrangement of city names and trigonometric data help the user to establish the orientation of the Ka'ba in Mecca and thus the direction of prayer. It was especially useful when travelling.","type":"Ottoman ceramics, glazed","holder":"National Museum of Damascus","initial_owner":"Sultan Salim I (also Selim, r. AH 918–26 / AD 1512–20).","dates":"Hegira 918–26 / AD 1512–20.","location":"Damascus","dimensions":"Width 3.5 cm, diameter 18.5 cm.","method_for_datation":"The inscription on the plate indicates that it was made by order of Sultan Salim I, (r. 918–26 / 1512–20).","method_for_provenance":"The inscription on the plate indicates that it was made in Damascus.","provenance":"Damascus, Syria.","obtention":"Purchased in 1935.","bibliography":"Cluzan, S. et al (eds), *Syrie: Mémoire et Civilisation*, Paris, 1994.  \nPorter, V., *Medieval Syrian Pottery*, Oxford, 1981.  \nSoustiel, J., and Kiefer, C., *La céramique islamique*, Fribourg, 1985, p.441.  \nWatson, O., *Ceramics from Islamic Lands*, London, 2004.","dynasty":"Ottoman","linkcatalogs":"IAM_TR_EN_001","author":"Mona al-Moadin","translator":"Hilary Kalmbach (from the Arabic)","translation_copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["Baghdad","ceramics","Constantinople","Damascus","determining qibla direction","earthenware","Jerusalem","Ka'ba","Kabul","Mecca","prayer","Prayers","qibla","Sayyid Thabit","Sultan Salim (Selim)","Tehran","transparent glaze"],"materials":["Earthenware with black and blue paint on a white base, and a transparent glaze."]},"b4c26e22-f7f2-5d49-aaea-80ad69f658de":{"name":"Silver pocket watch with chain and key","short_description":"The enamelled clock face of this pocket watch has an image of a Hijaz-railway engine and the Ottoman coat-of-arms. This was likely to have been made for an Ottoman official involved in the building of the railway.","type":"Watch; pocket watch","holder":"Khalili Family Trust – Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage Collection","dates":"Early 20th century AD","location":"London","dimensions":"Diameter: 5.5cm; bow & chain: 38cm","method_for_datation":"The Hijaz Railway was constructed between 1900 and 1908.","provenance":"Turkey","bibliography":"Nicholson, J., *The Hejaz railway*, London: Stacey International, 2005.","dynasty":"Ottoman","author":"Qaisra Khan","keywords":["Clock","engineering","hajj","Hijaz","Hijaz Railway","Holy place","Ka'ba","Mecca","Medina","Mosque","pilgrimage","Pilgrimage route","prayer","Prophet Muhammad","Religion","silver","travel"],"materials":["Silver, enamel"]},"b588456d-6066-57a5-856e-b4b1770386d5":{"name":"Plaster cast panel for microbiological education","short_description":"Maquettes were used in medical education in the Ottoman Empire before a western education system was adopted. The maquettes were commissioned abroad and before working on cadavers, models and moulages were used in classes. Maquettes prepared by Dr. Auzoux in Paris were first taken to Marseilles in boxes, then shipped to İstanbul from there. This example was made of plaster and contains examples of amoeba. There are Roman numerals under each example. On the lower left of the panel one can read \"Établissements Auzoux, Rue de Vaugirard, Paris”.","type":"Medical material","holder":"Cerrahpaşa Medical History Museum","dates":"1820–1840","location":"Istanbul","dimensions":"Width 56 cm, height 13 cm","provenance":"France","copy_editor":"Daniel de la Vega","materials":["Plaster"]},"b755f317-188a-5599-8821-1c6c3bb2c776":{"name":"*The Anatomical Waxes of the Istituto delle Scienze*","alternate_name":"Wax statue representing a naked man (Adam); wax statue representing a naked woman (Eve); wax statue representing a skinned man (“scorticato”); wax statue of a man showing superficial and deep muscles; wax statue of a man showing deep muscles; wax skele...","description":"The eighteenth-century was an especially lucky age for Bolognese wax artists thanks to the renovated intellectual life in town. Originally for the creation of ephemera as well as for long-lasting works. This art was generally employed for scientific purposes, by doctors, as they needed to study the delicate intricacies of the human body. In 1742 Pope Benedict XIV commissioned Ercole Lelli, a professor of the local Academy of Fine Arts, to create a group of anatomical waxes for study purposes for the room of Anatomy in the *Istituto delle Scienze*. Lelli had to mould eight statues on natural scale including a naked man and woman, and six skinned figures in order to emphasise the different muscular layers. The series is composed of more than 40 anatomical waxes representing muscles and bones. A century later professor Michele Medici wrote that Lelli used two human skeletons for his skinned men, arranged and modelled the different muscles with a mixture of hemp, wax, bran and turpentine then moulded the muscles in the right places, from life. Lelli said that the human body, known through the dissection of corpses, was the main interest of artistic anatomy. Every single detail was carefully studied and analysed; even the statues attitudes, especially in the nudes, were made to emphasise the superficial muscles.","short_description":"The eight anatomical statues realised by Ercole Lelli, include the 52 anatomical waxes (30 of them are about muscles and 20 about bones). Lelli planned the furnishings of the anatomy room; designing elegant cabinets with glass panes, perfect for housing the anatomical waxes, alternating with showcases where the statues could be easily studied from each point of view.","type":"Anatomical waxes","holder":"Musei di Palazzo Poggi, Anatomical waxes Museum, Institute of normal anatomy, University of Bologna","owner":"University of Bologna","initial_owner":"*Istituto delle Scienze*","dates":"1742–1751","location":"Bologna, Emilia-Romagna","dimensions":"Adam: h cm. 161; Eve: h cm. 147; skinned man: h cm. 163; Statue with deep and superficial muscles: h cm. 158; Statue with deep muscles: h cm. 154; Statue with skeletal muscles: h cm. 164; female skeleton: h cm. 163; male skeleton: h cm. 182","place_of_production":"Bologna","method_for_datation":"Documents.","provenance":"Museo di “notomia umana” – *Istituto delle Scienze*","obtention":"In original place.","bibliography":"*I materiali dell'Istituto delle Scienze*, Bologna, 1979.  \n*Le cere anatomiche bolognesi del Settecento*(exhibition catalogue), Bologna, 1981.  \nResidori, G. in *Rappresentare il corpo. Arte e anatomia da Leonardo all'Illuminismo* (exhibition catalogue) (ed. G. Olmi), Bologna, 2004, pp. 316-318.  \nFalabella, S. “Lelli Ercole”, *Dizionario biografico degli italiani*, p. 64, Rome, 2005, pp. 333-335.","workshop":"Bolognese wax school","artist_birthdate":"14th September 1702","artist_birthplace":"Bologna","artist_deathdate":"7th March 1766","artist_deathplace":"Bologna","author":"Ilaria Negretti","translator":"Antonella Mampieri","translation_copy_editor":"Lisa Kelman","keywords":["Anatomical waxes","anatomy","Benedict XIV","Ercole Lelli","Institute of Sciences","medicine","science","Sciences","surgery"],"materials":["52 anatomical waxes: wax","Adam, Eve, skinned man, statue with muscles, female skeleton: human bones, wax","male skeleton: human bones, wax, metal"]},"b9037025-526c-5ec9-ad5b-a435eec55808":{"name":"Travel notebook for meteorological observations","short_description":"Travel notebook which belonged to Portuguese Navy’s Commander Hermenegildo Capelo, used during the expedition to the interior of the African continent in 1884/1885, from Angola’s coast to the Mozambique’s shore, along with the Portuguese Navy’s Commander Roberto Ivens. The main objective for the Portuguese expeditionary voyages in Africa was to gather all sorts of information: meteorological data, course of rivers, local inhabitants and populations, among others.","type":"Logbook","holder":"Maritime Museum","dates":"1884","location":"Lisbon","author":"Bruno Gonçalves Neves","keywords":["Capelo","Ivens","Expeditions","Africa","Angola","Mozambique"],"materials":["Paper"]},"bac9e0ba-15e5-5bf5-a004-180b8c11e31d":{"name":"Astrolabe","short_description":"The astrolabe is an astronomical instrument device that Muslims inherited from the Hellenistic world and then passed on to medieval Europe. According to its inscriptions, this handsome gilt brass astrolabe was made in Seville, in southern Spain. Like all such instruments, it was designed to measure the altitude of the stars, sun or moon, and to establish different astronomical and topographical associations without resorting to calculations or formulas. It was especially valuable for timekeeping, as the Muslim times of prayer are astronomically determined. In addition to being functional, the astrolabe was also intended to be beautiful. This example is unusual in that it seems to have been altered nearly 70 years after it was made, possibly in Egypt or Syria; Seville had by that time already fallen to the Christian reconquest.","type":"Tools and Equipment","holder":"Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)","dates":"Hegira 624 / AD 1226-1227","location":"Los Angeles","dimensions":"21.3 x 14 x 2.9cm","method_for_datation":"According to its inscriptions, the astrolabe was made by Muhammad ibn ‘Abda al-‘Aziz al Khama’iri in Seville in Hegira 624/AD 1226-7, who may have a familial relationship with another Spanish astrolabist also associated with Seville. The rete of the astrolabe was later altered by the astrolabist Ibrahim in Mamluk Egypt or Syria in Hegira 693/AD 1293-4, based on an additional inscription.","method_for_provenance":"Its Arabic inscriptions indicate it was made in Seville.","provenance":"Spain","obtention":"Carolyn Merchant (1936 - ), Berkeley, CA, until 2003 (gifted to): LACMA, gift of Carolyn Merchant.","bibliography":"Komaroff, Linda, *Islamic Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art*, Rev. ed., Los Angeles: Museum Associates, 2005: 24, fig. 20.  \nKomaroff, Linda, *Lo Terrenal y lo divino: Arte islámico siglos VII al XIX Colección del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Angeles*, Santiago, Chile: Centro Cultural La Moneda, 2015: 90.  \nKomaroff, Linda, *Beauty and Identity: Islamic Art from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art*, Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2016: 110, 122-123.","dynasty":"Almohad","author":"LACMA Staff","keywords":["astronomy","metalwork","Muslim Spain","prayer","Reconquista","Religion","science","scientific instrument","timekeeping"],"materials":["Gilt copper alloy"]},"c072d700-9ae2-5214-ad10-69e3cb6824fa":{"name":"Film camera of the Manaki brothers","short_description":"Janaki (1878–1945) and Milton (1880–1964) Manaki were born in Bitola and went on to become pioneers of Macedonian film and the first filmmakers in the Balkans. The Manaki brothers shot their first film merely 10 years after the Lumiere brothers. In 1905, they shot their grandmother Despina spinning wool with women from the neighbourhood. Their first film of ethnographic value was shot soon after. It documents celebration of the feast of St. Cyril and Methodius in front of the Church in Bitola devoted to these saints. In their films, the Manaki brothers strived to document visually events from everyday life and to frame them as real works of art. In 1921, they projected the first film in the open-air arena at the Shirok Sokak Street in Bitola.","type":"Camera; part of filming equipment","holder":"The Archive of the City of Bitola","dates":"1905","location":"Bitola","author":"Aco Kimovski (Archive of the City of Bitola)","copy_editor":"Daniel de la Vega","keywords":["Innovation","filmmaking","ethnographic documentaries","cinema"]},"c55a0ee3-358d-5f51-ab63-42f3d19fc7db":{"name":"Astrolabe","short_description":"Brass astrolabe signed by the maker, Muhammed Khalil bn Hasan `Ali, and the calligrapher, Muhammed Baqir Isfahani, and dated AH 1095 / AD 1634-84.","type":"Scientific instrument, metalwork","holder":"Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah","dates":"Hegira 1095 / AD 1683–1684","location":"Kuwait City","provenance":"Iranian world","dynasty":"Safavid","keywords":["astrolabe","astronomy","metalwork","science"]},"c64f3835-f9f7-5723-9b30-b413f5f0111c":{"name":"*Homarus hakelensis* Fraas 1878 and clupeomorph fishes","short_description":"*Homarus* is as genus of marine crustacean decapode (lobster). Its first pair of legs is transformed into big claws showing dimorphism (one specialised into a crushing claw and the other into a cutting claw). In the fossil register we can find about eight species of Homarus. But nowadays only two exist: *Homarus gammarus* (European lobster) and *Homarus americanus* (American lobster). *Homarus hakelensis* is a fossil species described from specimens found at the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) site of Hakel, Lebanon. In this plate we can also find some specimens of clupeomorph fishes. In this group of teleosts, that date back to the Early Cretaceous (c. 140 million years) belongs, today, the herring, the sardine and the anchovy, for example. They are generally small silvery marine fishes.","type":"Fossil","holder":"National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) / Museums of the University of Lisbon","dates":"Cenomanian, Upper Cretaceous (c. 95 million years)","location":"Lisbon","dimensions":"19 cm x 1,5 cm x 15 cm","provenance":"Hakel, Lebanon","author":"Liliana Póvoas (MUHNAC-UL), Pedro Dantas (MUHNAC-UL)","keywords":["Homarus hakelensis","clupeomorphs","Upper Cretaceous","lithographic limestone","National Museum of Natural History and Science","University of Lisbon"],"materials":["Plate of lithographic limestone"]},"d66e9193-b359-50c2-9fea-50514b0595be":{"name":"Reflecting circle","short_description":"Reflecting circle wich belong to Portuguese Navy’s Commander Hermenegildo Capelo. It works on the principle of double reflection, like the octant and sextant, with the advantage of its limbus corresponding to a full circle, making possible the measure of angles of any amplitude. This instrument was used in the “Portuguese Scientific Expedition to the Southern Africa’s Hinterland”, in 1877.","type":"Borda's circle; scientific instrument","holder":"Maritime Museum","dates":"19th century","location":"Lisbon","author":"Bruno Gonçalves Neves","keywords":["Capelo","Ivens","Expedition","Africa","Navigation"],"materials":["Glass and brass"]},"da60db2e-b27e-5914-9284-ae2e7d5378d4":{"name":"Astrolabe-quadrant","description":"One side of the instrument carries a Prophatius astrolabe-quadrant for latitude 41°, with an unequal hour diagram (horary quadrant) above. The other side is a sine-cosine quadrant with arcs of sine and versed sine. There are brief instructions in Turkish and Arabic on the sides and edges. The maker’s name and the date appear on each side, with slight variations in some details of the signature. The *nisbah* of the maker, al-Ufi, indicates that he was from Of, a small town on the Black Sea.","type":"Scientific instrument","holder":"Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art","owner":"Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art","dates":"AH 1256 (AD 1840–41)","location":"London","dimensions":"16.8cm x 12.8 x 3cm; radius of quadrant: 12.5cm","place_of_production":"Istanbul","method_for_datation":"Dated AH 1256 (AD 1840–41)","bibliography":"Maddison, F. and Savage-Smith, E., *Science, Tools & Magic. The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, vol. XII. Part One: Body and Spirit Mapping the Universe, London: The Nour Foundation, 1997: cat. 156, pp. 266-268.*","dynasty":"Ottomans","artist_birthplace":"Pontus","catalogue_holding_link":"https://www.khalilicollections.org/collections/islamic-art/khalili-collection-islamic-art-astrolabe-quadrant-sci40/","author":"Qaisra Khan","materials":["brass socket for the plumb-line","solid walnut, inscribed in red and black ink under a yellowish varnish","the lead weight for the plumb-line is housed in the instrument"]},"de4802a1-86e2-5973-8765-e8cc4ee04f98":{"name":"Planispheric astrolabe.","description":"The maker and final destination of this flat astrolabe, which is in reasonably good condition, are both known. All of the elements that make up a planispheric astrolabe have survived: the main part or mater; the alidade on the back of the instrument; three tympans or superposed disks on top of the mater; the rete or mobile openwork plaque (*shabaka*) representing the map of fixed stars turning around the earth; and the throne, a triangular piece for hanging it. It would have been one of the first portable astrolabes to have been made in the West on the model of the well known al-Zarqali astrolabe from Toledo, known in Europe as the Azarchel. The name of the maker is engraved on the back of the throne, and is none other than the famous Seville craftsman Muhammad ibn al-Futuh al-Khamayri, from whom four further astrolabes are known. An inscription in cursive characters on the back of the mater names the mosque to which it is dedicated: the Andalusian Mosque in Fez.  \nAn essential scientific instrument used by ancient astronomers to determine prayer times, the position of stars and horoscopes, this astrolabe was also an especially well-crafted work of art, in particular in the cutting of the flashes in the rete.","short_description":"This astrolabe includes all of the component parts of the planispheric astrolabes that were indispensable to ancient astronomers for determining prayer times and the height of the stars, and for establishing horoscopes. It is one of the first portable astrolabes in the West.","type":"Scientific instrument, metalwork","holder":"Batha Museum.","initial_owner":"*Habus* (endowment).","dates":"Hegira 614 / AD 1217–18.","location":"Fez.","dimensions":"Height 22.5 cm, diameter 21 cm.","method_for_datation":"The inscription engraved on the suspension plate names the craftsman and the date it was made: 'This was made by Muhammad ibn al-Fatuh al-Khamayri in the year 614 [AD 1218]'. The numbers are written in letters according to the Abajid style.","method_for_provenance":"The inscription on the back of the astrolabe: 'This was made *habus* property to deserve the blessing and forgiveness of God the Supreme for the *minbar* of the Andalusian Mosque in the town of Fez, may God the Supreme protect it'. There were actually two *minbars* at the Andalusian Mosque, one commissioned in 369 / 980 and the other built under the Almohads.","provenance":"Andalusian Mosque, Fez.","obtention":"Restoration.","bibliography":"Amahan, A., *6000 ans d'art au Maroc*, catalogue, Paris, 1990.  \nBergé, M., *Les Arabes, Histoire et Civilisation, des origines à la chute du Royaume de Grenade*, Paris, 1978.  \nMichel, H., *Traité de l'astrolabe*, Paris, 1947.  \nRenaud, P.J., “Astronomie et Astrologie marocaines”, *Hespéris* XXIX, Rabat, 1942, pp.42–63.","dynasty":"Almohad","linkcatalogs":"IAM_MA_EN_001","author":"Naima El Khatib-Boujibar","copy_editor":"Margot Cortez","translator":"Laurence Nunny","translation_copy_editor":"Monica Allen","keywords":["astronomy","epigraphic decoration","geometric decoration","habus","religious object","science","scientific object","vegetal decoration"],"materials":["Engraved brass."]},"dfeaa653-0f75-546d-8c39-7cac8ec05374":{"name":"Planispheric Astrolabe","description":"Astrolabes of this size were not precise enough for astronomical observations, but served well for telling time, and astrologers could use them to determine the position of a planet relative to the different astrological houses. The intricate calligraphic faceplate of this example is typical of Safavid‑period astrolabes; it reads: \"In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate\" (bismallah al‑Rahman al‑Rahim).","type":"Metalwork","holder":"The Metropolitan Museum","initial_owner":"I. G. Sargis, New York(until 1963)","dates":"AH 1065 / AD 1654-5","location":"New York","dimensions":"Height: 21,6cm, width: 17,1cm, depth: 5,7cm","place_of_production":"Attributed to Iran, Mashhad","obtention":"Sold to the museum in 1963","bibliography":"Bowie, T. R., \"An Exhibition Prepared by Theodore Bowie.\" In *Islamic Art Across the World.*, Vol. no. 1970/3. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Art Museum, June 17 to Oct. 1, 1970.  \n  \nMayer, L. A., *Islamic Architects and Their Works.*, Geneva: Albert Kundig, 1956.  \n  \nRahim, H., *Inscription as Art in the World of Islam: Unity in Diversity: at the Emily Lowe Gallery.* , Hempstead, NY: Hofstra Museum, Hofstra University, 1996.  \n  \nEkhtiar, M., P. P. Soucek, S. R. Canby, and N. Haidar, ed., Masterpieces from the Department of Islamic Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art., 1st ed., New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011.  \n  \nSaliba, G., *Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance.* , Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2011.  \n  \nEkhtiar, M., and C. Moore, ed. \"A Resource for Educators.\" In Art of the Islamic World., New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012.  \n  \nTokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. \"Masterpieces of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.\" In *Earth, Sea, and Sky: Nature in Western Art.* ,Tokyo: Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 2012.","dynasty":"Safavids","artist_birthplace":"Iran","catalogue_holding_link":"https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/451699","materials":["Brass and steel","cast and hammered, pierced and engraved"]},"e8e399f5-c3f4-5c44-8ed7-085220b24c32":{"name":"*Farmácia Barbosa*","alternate_name":"Barbosa Pharmacy (reconstruction)","description":"A reconstruction of Farmácia Barbosa, an 18th-century apothecary, with its numerous niches and shelves painted in cream, and examples of 18th-century Portuguese pharmaceutical earthenware.  \nThe central niche, decorated with engraved Baroque motifs in gold, held a religious image – St. Michael – which would guide the pharmacist's actions. The stands, with shelves, had drawers at the bottom for storing medicinal plants and samples, while the shelves held the hand-painted apothecary's jars, decorated profusely in the Baroque style or embellished with a private or religious coat of arms. Painted in monochrome two-tone blue, some are labelled in Latin to describe the product inside and some have blank spaces ready to have a label or inscription applied.  \nThe Portuguese earthenware displayed in this pharmacy came from the dispensaries of various convents such as those belonging to the orders of the Augustinians, the Carmelites, the Dominicans, St. Philip of Nery (Oratory), the Third Order of St. Francis, the Jesuits, the Poor Clares and even the military orders of Aviz and Santiago.  \nAnother collection of apothecary jars belonged to the Santa Casa da Misericórdia of Viana; their earthenware was produced at the Darque factory in 1774. This reconstruction includes the original pharmacy ceiling from Santa Casa da Misericórdia, its edges decorated with vegetal motifs in red, green, blue and white. The apothecary display case decorated with carvings bears the initials of the original owners of the pharmacy, Manuel Rodrigues Barbosa, at its centre. Barbosa practiced the profession in the Monastery at Paço de Sousa and acquired all the equipment from there in 1834.  \nFeatures discovered during restoration suggest that the higher central area predates the rest. This is shown by its structure; how it was built and the materials used. Inside the old pharmacy, there are bottles, flasks, weights and measures, retorts, crucibles and *pharmacopeias* that together make up the pharmaceutical arsenal used in the preparation of medicaments in the 18th century.","short_description":"A reconstruction of Farmácia Barbosa, an 18th-century apothecary. The stands, with shelves, had drawers at the bottom for storing medicinal plants and samples, whilst the shelves would hold the famous hand-painted apothecary jars profusely decorated in the Baroque style.","type":"Woodwork","holder":"Pharmacy Museum","owner":"Museu da Farmácia / Associação Nacional de Farmácias","initial_owner":"Paço de Sousa Monastery","dates":"c. 1770–1790","location":"Lisbon, Lisbon","dimensions":"H: 2.90 m","place_of_production":"Paço de Sousa, Penafiel","method_for_datation":"Documents and evidence recovered during restoration process.","provenance":"Paço de Sousa Penafiel","obtention":"Private Donation","bibliography":"Basso, M. P., *Treasures of the Pharmacy Museum*, Lisbon, 2001.","author":"Paula Basso","translator":"Mick Greer","translation_copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["apothecary jars","furnishing","medicine","Pharmacy","science"],"materials":["Carved wood"]},"e98373dd-6e4e-5ada-9719-c553fa2337f9":{"name":"Glass vessel possibly for chemistry.","description":"A plain, utilitarian glass vessel without ornamentation. Its unusual shape indicates specialised use, probably in a field such as chemistry. It has an oval-shaped body with a narrow and long pipe coming out of its side and curving upward almost perpendicularly. The pipe grows gradually wider near the tip and its outward-splayed lip is shaped like a little funnel. This vessel is made of thin, white, translucent glass. It is free from decoration, probably so that the progress of chemical reactions taking place within it could be observed.  \nThe Abbasid period witnessed a cultural and scientific renaissance and archaeologists have discovered many glass finds intended for practical uses.","short_description":"Skilled craftsmanship was required not just for luxury wares but for more utilitarian objects as well. This undecorated but highly sophisticated glass vessel was probably used for experiments in chemistry.","type":"Vassel, glass","holder":"National Museum of Damascus","dates":"Around hegira 3rd–4th century / AD 9th–10th century.","location":"Damascus","dimensions":"Height 22.2 cm, width (of belly) 9.6 cm.","method_for_datation":"Glass production flourished in many Islamic centres in Iran, Iraq, Syria and Egypt, and throughout several eras. Similarly, shaped glass fragments have been attributed to the early 'Abbasid period. Numerous utilitarian, Abbasid-era glass objects have been found in the Raqqa region during archaeological excavations of the 'Abbasid palace complexes under the direction of Nasib Salibi during the 1950s and Michael Meinecke during the 1990s. It is possible that this vessel was produced in the early Abbasid period.","method_for_provenance":"Numerous finds of glass in archaeological excavations at Raqqa, together with knowledge that the area was a glass-making centre, make it possible that the object was manufactured in Raqqa, a large urban city complex that flourished under the Abbasids.","provenance":"Raqqa region, Syria.","obtention":"Purchased in 1919.","bibliography":"Abu al-Faraj al-Ush, M., *A Concise Guide to the National Museum of Damascus,* Damascus, 1969, p.250.  \nCarboni, S., and Whitehouse, D., *Glass of the Sultans*, New York, 2001.","dynasty":"Abbasid","author":"Mona al-Moadin","translator":"Hilary Kalmbach (from the Arabic)","translation_copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["Blown glass","chemistry","Glass vessel","Michael Meinecke","Nasib Salibi","Raqqa","science"],"materials":["Blown glass."]},"ea99bbf2-1d63-5510-96b0-82bb57bbc44b":{"name":"Traditional clepsydra","alternate_name":"Water clock; irrigation time bowl;*Tanast*, *Tassa*, *Tighira*","description":"Locally known as *tanast*, *tassa* or *tighira*, the traditional clepsydra is a water clock used in the oases of southeastern Morocco, particularly in Tafilalet, to measure irrigation turns. Farmers rely on it to know exactly how long they can access water from canals, springs, or reservoirs to water their fields. It consists of a small perforated copper bowl that floats inside a larger bucket of water. As water slowly seeps into the bowl, it becomes heavier until it sinks, and the moment it sinks marks one fixed unit of irrigation time. By repeating this cycle communities could divide water fairly among rights-holders, according to customary law.  \nThe device embodies the principle of hydraulic justice—time, rather than volume, becomes the standard, allowing a constant and transparent distribution even when flow varies. Its durable copper construction, portability, and ease of calibration made it ideal for communal use beside canals and reservoirs.  \nBeyond its utilitarian value, the clepsydra reflects deep cultural meanings: the sanctity of water, the moral duty to share, and the sophisticated know-how of rural artisans who crafted reliable instruments without modern technology.  \n  \nThough many oases now use pumps and clocks, the Tanast remains a powerful symbol of Morocco’s living hydraulic heritage and community self-governance.","type":"Traditional time-measuring device for water distribution","holder":"Mohammed VI Museum of Water Civilisation","owner":"Mohammed VI Museum of Water Civilisation","initial_owner":"Community water users in Tafilalet (traditional practice)","dates":"AH 16th / AD 20th century","location":"Marrakech","dimensions":"12 × 28cm (bowl); 18cm × 42cm","place_of_production":"Tafilalet, Morocco","method_for_datation":"Based on curatorial documentation and typology of Tafilalet irrigation tools.","method_for_provenance":"Museum records (exhibition documentation).","provenance":"Collected as part of the museum’s permanent exhibition on traditional water management","obtention":"Museum acquisition for didactic display (details not available).","bibliography":"El Faïz, M., *L’eau et les hommes au Maghreb*, Rabat: L’Harmattan, 2002.","author":"MUSEUM Staff, Layan Shahin","copy_editor":"Judy Harter","keywords":["clepsydra","community management","copperwork","irrigation time","oases","Tafilalet","tanast","water rights"],"materials":["Copper bowl with central perforation","copper bucket","handcrafted metalwork"]},"eb5b5b6f-3b83-5284-8eb0-50673debe16c":{"name":"Medical box of Dr. İbrahim Göze","short_description":"Dr. İbrahim Ethem Göze started studying medicine first in Civilian Medical School and graduated from Darülfünun Medical Faculty in 1914. He specialized in dermatology in Gureba Hospital in Istanbul. This medical box belonged to Dr. İbrahim Ethem Göze is rectangular in shape, brown and covered with leather. It also has a handle for carrying. It is in two pieces with four chambers inside. One of the chambers has a cover. In the front there are salvarsan (Arsphenamine) medicine boxes used to cure syphilis, in the chamber at the back there are brown bottles on which sulphur, ammonia, alcohol and tincture of iodine is written. In the covered chamber there are ampules, bandage, a metal syringe with its needle and one tongue holder. On the box one can read the figure of 152.","type":"Medical material","holder":"Cerrahpaşa Medical History Museum","dates":"1890–1923","location":"Istanbul","dimensions":"Width 35 cm, height 24 cm","provenance":"Istanbul","artist_birthdate":"1892","artist_deathdate":"1963","copy_editor":"Daniel de la Vega","keywords":["Health","medical equipment"],"materials":["Wood"]},"ebfd44a0-d4f8-5620-97dd-65b9e16f66cf":{"name":"The Acrobat","alternate_name":"Acrobat illustrating the state of equilibrium","description":"The Acrobat stands as one of the most emblematic objects of the Physics and Science Museum impressive collection of instruments. After de inventory the *acrobat stands on a single foot and turns around on the top of an artistically carved and decorated wooden base*. Elegantly dressed, epoch style, the figure maintains the equilibrium on top of the base through a single iron spike under one of its showes. It holds an inverted U shaped bent rod with heavy brass balls at both ends whose main function is to lower the centre of gravity of the figure bellow the contact point of the foot with the base.  \nStarting in the XVII century, scientific instruments like *The Acrobat* could be found in many Physics cabinets or used as decorative objects. Instruments of this kind, although of simpler conception are still common today namely as toys. Both artistically and historically, *The Acrobat* exceeds his original function and value.","short_description":"This instrument, used for experimental physics in the College of Philosophy at the University of Coimbra, illustrated the importance of an object’s centre of gravity relative to its surface of support when in a state of equilibrium.","type":"Scientific and didactic instrument","holder":"Museum of Physics, University of Coimbra","owner":"Museum of Physics, Science Museum of University of Coimbra","initial_owner":"Colégio de Nobres (Royal College of Noblemen)","dates":"1766–1768","location":"Coimbra, Coimbra","dimensions":"H: 52 cm; w: 22.5 cm depth: 20 cm","place_of_production":"Lisbon","method_for_datation":"This instrument is referred to in an undated inventory of the Colégio de Nobres, likely organised between 1766 and 1768.","provenance":"Colégio de Nobres (Royal College of Noblemen)","obtention":"The Cabinet of Physics at the Colégio de Nobres was transferred to the University of Coimbra in 1773.","bibliography":"Nollet, J.-A., *Leçons de Physique Expérimentale,* Paris, 1764, Vol. III, plate I, Fig. 2.  \nAlmeida, T. de, *Recreasão filozofica ou dialogo sobre a Filosofia Natural para instrucsão de pesoas curiozas, que não frequentárão as aulas*, Lisbon, 1784, Vol. I, plate I, fig. 2.  \n*Les Mécanismes du Génie*. *Instruments Scientifiques du XVIII et XIX siècles*, Europália, Charleroi, 1991.  \n*O Engenho e a Arte,* *Colecção de Instrumentos do Real Gabinete de Física, Universidade de Coimbra e Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian*, Lisbon, 1997.","artist_birthdate":"Unknown","copyright":"Copyright images: Museu de Física da Universidade de Coimbra.","author":"Ermelinda Antunes","translator":"Manuel Silva Pereira, Paulo Gama Mota","translation_copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["centre of gravity","Mechanics"],"materials":["brass and iron","Carved, painted and gilded wood"]},"f32db4ad-178e-583f-be68-731a20b86a1a":{"name":"Map of the Hijaz Railway. Designation in Ottoman Turkish and Arabic","description":"The map is part of the Pocket Atlas of the Ottoman Lands: The Geographical and Statistical Conditions of the Ottoman State. It represents territories extending from Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean in the west to the Euphrates River in the east, and from Damascus in the north to the Hijaz region in the south. The map identifies regions, towns, ports, deserts, mountain ranges and maritime routes in Ottoman Turkish written in Arabic script. A route beginning in Damascus and continuing through Darʿa and Maʿan toward Medina corresponds to the Hijaz Railway. The map table heading is given first in Ottoman Turkish and immediately below in Arabic, reading: \"Map of the Hijaz Railway\", with a list of stations underneath. Each location is accompanied by a numerical value expressed in kilometres, indicating cumulative distances measured from Damascus.","type":"Map, pocket atlas","holder":"Wolf-Dieter Lemke Collection","owner":"Wolf-Dieter Lemke Collection","dates":"AH c. 1328 / AD c. 1910","location":"Berlin","dimensions":"Height: 13 cm; width: 9,2 cm","provenance":"Collection of Wolf-Dieter Lemke, Berlin","bibliography":"Nicholson, James, *The Hejaz Railway*, London: Stacey International, 2005.  \n  \nAga Khan Trust for Culture, *Historic Train Stations of the Al-Hijaz Railway Network*, Geneva: Aga Khan Trust for Culture, 2004.","dynasty":"Ottoman","copy_editor":"Danielle Morcom","keywords":["Hijaz","Map","Syria, Türkiye","Trainlines"],"materials":["Paper, printed coloured pocket atlas"]},"f795fd67-bd2c-50a0-87cd-f4f308542324":{"name":"Earth and celestial globe, the so-called 'St. Gallen Globe'","description":"For many years, the so-called St. Gallen Globe, one of the prized objects of Swiss cultural history, was a source of contention. The globe featuring Mercator maps of the earth and the celestial sphere was created by Tilemann Stella in northern Germany towards the end of the sixteenth century, as a document discovered in 2016 reveals. Although they were not suitable for navigation, globes were extremely popular in the early modern period. What makes the St. Gallen Globe so special is its combination of world and celestial globes. Entitled as a gift, which, however, was later satisfied, the globe was incorporated in the library of the Abbey of St Gallen where it was kept until 1712. During the Second War of Villmergen the globe was robbed and carted off to Zürich where it was displayed in the Wasserkirche (Water Church). St Gallen demanded the return of the globe, but to no avail. When the Swiss National Museum was established in 1898, the globe passed into the hands of the Swiss Confederation; it has been on display in the museum ever since. The dispute over the treasure, which went down in Swiss history as the cultural heritage conflict between Zürich and St Gallen, was only resolved in 2006 when the St Gallen Abbey library received a true copy of the contested globe.","type":"Globe","holder":"Swiss National Museum","owner":"Zentralbibliothek Zürich","dates":"Around 1570","location":"Zurich","dimensions":"H: 233cm, W: 174cm, Diameter: 121cm (with frame), L: 380cm","method_for_datation":"In 2016 a document was found which revealed the globe’s origin.","provenance":"Northern Germany, Mecklenburg","obtention":"The globe was donated 1595 to the Stiftsbibliothek St. Gallen and robbed 1712 by Zürich troops during the second Villmerger-wars. Since then it is in the property of the Stadtbibliothek Zürich, now called Zentralbibliothek. When the Landesmuseum opened its doors in 1898 it was given into possession of the Landesmuseum as part of the “Morgengabe”.","keywords":["Scientific instruments","St. Gallen Globus","terrestrial and cellestial globe"],"materials":["painted","Papier-mâché, wood"]},"fa16c243-a50e-562c-8d05-fe7c41233b43":{"name":"A monumental planispheric astrolabe made for Shah Jahan, most probably by Diya’ al-Din Muhammad Lahori","short_description":"The astrolabe was the principal Islamic instrument for telling the time, surveying and determining latitude. It consists of a solid body, the mater, into which fit a series of plates (six in this astrolabe) and a revolving circular web-like star map, the rete, known as *‘ankabut* (‘spider’) in Arabic. The various elements, supplemented by a sighting vane (the alidade), on the back of the instrument, were held together by a pin.  \nIn a recent detailed study, Professor S.R. Sarma has shown that this astrolabe is almost certainly the work of Diya’ al-Din Muhammad, a member of the famous Lahori astrolabe makers. Several features have led him to the conclusion that it was made for the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, sometime between 1648, when he moved his capital to Delhi renaming it Shahjahanabad – the name used on this astrolabe – and the end of his reign in 1658. Sanskrit legends were added to the Arabic ones in 1701, during which process the original inscription naming the maker, the date and the patron must have been effaced.","type":"Astrolabe; scientific instrument","holder":"Khalili Family Trust – Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art","dates":"AD between 1648–58","location":"London","dimensions":"H: 60.2cm; diameter: 52.6cm; thickness: 1.4cm","method_for_datation":"Attribution, date and provenance based on extensive research by Professor S.R. Sarma.","provenance":"Punjab, Lahore","bibliography":"Maddison, F., and Savage-Smith, E., *Science, Tools & Magic*, London: The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, volume 12, Part One, 1997: cat.133, pp.230–33.  \nSarma, S.R., “A Monumental Astrolabe Made for Shāh Jahān and Later Reworked with Sanskrit Legends”, *Medieval Encounters*, 23 (2017): 198–262.","dynasty":"Mughal","keywords":["astronomical instrument","astronomy","brass","Mughal","Mughal India","scientific object","silver"],"materials":["Brass, sheet and cast, cut and engraved","the rete is inlaid with silver"]},"fb6d76a4-8c2e-5feb-8110-649d35ff03da":{"name":"Celestial globe","description":"As everyone knows, 29 February is a leap day and appears on the calendar only once every four years. The day was introduced in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII. The new Gregorian calendar finally did justice to the fact that a year has 365.2425 days. Only four years later, Jost Bürgi, a brilliant astronomer, mathematician, clockmaker, and maker of astronomical instruments, built a celestial globe incorporating the new calendar for the German Kaiser. He developed the first-ever mechanical system to display 29 February in leap years. Bürgi was born in what is today the canton of St. Gallen and worked with the famous astronomer Johannes Kepler at the imperial court in Prague. In addition to the celestial globe, he also invented many other things. He was the first person to draw up a logarithmic table. Additionally, he built a clock with three hands, thereby creating the second as a unit of time.","type":"Celestial globe","holder":"Swiss National Museum","owner":"Swiss Confederation","dates":"AD 1594","location":"Zurich","dimensions":"H: 25,5cm, Diameter of the globe: 14,2cm","method_for_datation":"According to an Inscription on the lower side of the globe","provenance":"Germany, Kassel, Hessen","obtention":"Donated in 1978","keywords":["Celestial Globe","Jost Bürgi","Kassel","scientific instrument"],"materials":["Brass golden plated, engraved, chased"]},"ff3db0a2-4bc7-576e-bbd7-b0882e3ea217":{"name":"Astrolabe.","description":"An astrolabe that has a hollowed-out central disc; a sort of base plate (a mater), that is formed by riveting the back plate to the raised edge (the limb), which is inscribed in *kufic* script. The jointed ring (or throne), from which the instrument is suspended perpendicular to the ground to give a reading, is not all original. The *rête* (the pierced front plate showing the positions of the stars) is a replacement made in the 13th century. The astrolabe can be taken apart by unscrewing the central knob (horse) to reveal seven plates. Engraved on the plates in simpler *kufic* script to that seen on the limb, are seven names of places: Mecca, Medina, Saragossa, Samarra, Cairo, Toledo and Constantinople, along with the latitude and the hours in the longest day. The plates are engraved with azimuths as well as almucantarsand there are lines indicating times of prayer. The interior of the *mater* is engraved with the markings of 66 degrees, it is a plate of ecliptic co-ordinates, while the back bears four scales of altitude and two ecliptic and calendrical scales. The maker’s signature is on the back of the *mater*.  \nThe astrolabe is a device known from at least the AH 2nd / AD 8th century, and it represents the notion of heaven with all its stars, based on the assumption that earth is at the centre of a spherical universe. The astrolabe had many purposes. It served as an astronomical calculating device allowing the observation of solar and stellar altitudes. It was also used for navigational purposes. Time-keeping was another important function of the astrolabe in the Muslim sphere, for it was exploited in particular to calculate the precise timing of the five daily prayers.  \nSpain was invaded by the Muslims in the AH 2nd / AD 8th century and subsequently a vibrant civilisation evolved, one that collected, incorporated and disseminated the ideas of ancient as well as contemporaneous Arab scientists and scholars. This European-made and dated astrolabe is the earliest known, produced in AH 417 / AD 1026–7 by Muhammad ibn al-Saffar. Interestingly, Ibn al-Saffar, brother of Muhammad ibn al-Saffar, was the author of the first known treatise from Islamic Spain on the astrolabe. Two contemporary astrolabes survive from this period; both signed by Muhammad ibn al-Saffar, this one is the earlier of the two. In Europe production and use of the astrolabe had waned by the 18th century, but in the Islamic world they were made and used into the 20th century.","short_description":"The Muslim world inherited the astrolabe from Antiquity. It was an essential astronomical calculation device used for observing the stars, navigation and time keeping. In the AH 2nd / AD 8th century, following the Muslim conquest of Spain, it was introduced to Europe.","type":"Scientific instrument, metalwork, cast copper","holder":"National Museums of Scotland.","dates":"Hegira 417 / AD 1026–7.","location":"Edinburgh, Scotland","dimensions":"Diameter 15.5 cm.","method_for_datation":"On the back of the astrolabe the inscription in *kufic* script states: ‘Work of Muhammad bin \\[ibn\\] al-Saffar in Córdoba in the year 17 and 400’ (417 / 1026–7).","method_for_provenance":"The inscription on the back of the astrolabe gives the place of origin as Córdoba.","provenance":"Córdoba, Spain.","obtention":"A gift to the Royal Museum, NMS, from James H. Farr, F.I.M.I., Edinburgh, in 1959.","bibliography":"NMS Object Record File, containing material directly reproduced from the following references:  \nKing, D. A., ‘Some Medieval Astronomical Instruments and their Secrets’, **in** Mazzolini, R. G. (ed.), *Non-Verbal Communication in Science prior to 1900*, Florence 1993, pp.29–52.  \nMaddison, F., and Turner, A., *Science and Technology in Islam*, exhibition catalogue, London 1976, pp.104–6.  \nPhillips, P., *The Collectors’ Encyclopeadia of Antiques*, London 1973, p.604, fig. a.  \nPlenderleith, R. W., ‘Discovery of an Old Astrolabe’ in *The Scottish Geographical Magazine,* Vol. 76, No. 1, 1960: 25.","dynasty":"Umayyads of al-Andalus","author":"Ulrike Al-Khamis","copy_editor":"Mandi Gomez","keywords":["astrolabe","astronomy","Cordoba","kufic script","Muhammad ibn al-Saffar","science"],"materials":["Cast brass, incised."]}}