A fine Maghribi brass astrolabe, signed by Muhammad Ibn Ahmed Marsil, Morocco, dated in abjad 1232 AH/1816-17 AD

cast brass, hammered and engraved, comprising 4 plates, rete, possibly later horse and alidade, inscribed throughout in fine ornamental Maghribi script, with suspension loop

The mater with some light scratches and minor nicks throughout, the internal plate re-attached and slightly loose on backing with some cracks and corrosion, each plate with some discoloration and light scratches as well as slight abrasion, one or two plates with minor cracks and some associated consolidation, the alidad and pin probably later replacements, as viewed. Please consult a professional restorer for further advice on conservation.
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This finely-engraved astrolabe, hitherto unknown, is the first astrolabe to be associated with the Marsîl al-Andalus family working in, probably, Morocco during the late eighteenth/early nineteenth centuries. It indicates the continued interest in astronomy and continued technical competence in the Maghrib circa 1800.

inscriptions

on the reverse of the mater: 

Al-hamdu l-llahi wahdahu - sani’uhu ‘abdu llahi Muhammad Ibn Amad Marsil wa-akhuhu iltaha(?) man kana llahu la-huma wa-li-man nazara la-hu amin - wa-kana al-faragh minhu sanata sh-r-l-b
.

'Praise be to God alone. The maker [of this astrolabe] is the [wretched] slave of God Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Marsil and his brother….[reading uncertain]…May God be with them and with those who look at it [the astrolabe]. Amen. The completion [of this instrument] was in the year 1232 (1816-17 AD).’

Rete for twenty-seven named stars represented by curved, hook-like, pointers arising from circular bases containing silver studs (most now missing). There are three mudirs. The firmly cut rete has a double counter-changed East-West bar, counter-changed Equatorial arc, and a rectangular murî. There is some wear, in particular to the ecliptic ring some of the divisions being partly effaced. The mater is cast in one piece with the tri-lobed kursî carrying the shackle and the limb carries a degree scale reading to one degree by numbered five degree groups. The back is engraved in the upper quadrants with two 90° scales; within this is a zodiacal calendar and within this a lunar scale surrounding a double shadow-square of twelve, and the maker’s inscription flanked by numbered arcs for the unequal hours.
There are four plates for:  

1a:          Meknes
1b:          Marrakesh
2a:          Fez
2b:          Plate of horizons
3a:          Kufa
3b:          Mecca
4a:          Sabta (Ceuta)
4b:          Sijilmassa & Egypt

The two sons of ‘Alî Marsil al-Andalus, Ahmad and Muhammad, are known as the makers of three instruments: an ‘A’-shaped level (1202 AH/1788 AD) now in the Adler Planetarium, Chicago, and an astrolabe quadrant (1202 AH/1788-89 AD), made for latitude 34° 30’ (Ouazzan), Musée Branly, Paris, by Muhammad Ibn ‘Alî, and an astrolabe-quadrant by ‘Ahmad Ibn ‘Alî made for Muhammad Ibn al-Haj ‘Abd al-Salam al-Salâwî in Rabat (in the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, inv. no.54673, date 1219 AH/1804 AD). The present astrolabe was presumably made by the son of ‘Ahmad and so adds a third generation to this hitherto little known family of makers.

An explanation for the curious name ‘Marsîl’ was offered several years ago by the pioneer recorder of astrolabists, L.A. Mayer, who proposed that it should be understood as a transliteration of the French fore-name ‘Marcel’ since, "…North Africans of Christian or Jewish descent are less inclined to hide their non-Muslim ancestors as “new-Muslims” in other countries are. Even in the course of this [20^th] century one of the qadis of Fez called himself ‘Abd ar-Rahmân Cohen…" (cited from Brieux & Maddison, Répertoire des facteurs d’astrolabes et leurs œuvres…, in press, entry for ‘Ahmad ibn ‘Ali Marsîl).

For a history of astronomy in the Maghrib see D.A. King, 'On the History of Astronomy in the Medieval Maghrib', in Études d’Histoire des Sciences Arabes, Mohammed Abattouy, (ed.), Casablanca, 2007, pp.175-218. For an ordered list of late Maghribi astrolabes see D.A. King, In Synchrony with the Heavens- Studies in Astronomical Timekeeping and Instrumentation in Medieval Islamic Civilization, vol. 1: The Call of the Muezzin (Studies II, pp.1010-12 and 1014-15), Leiden, E.J. Brill, 2004-05.

We are grateful for the assistance of Dr. Anthony Turner in cataloguing this lot.