M0017318: Plate from a 16th century astrolabe

Previous title, replaced October 2020: Plate from an astrolabe of the 16th century.

Photograph of a plate from a 16th century astrolabe, an instrument previously used to determine the altitude of the sun or other celestial bodies. Flemish, French or German. Shows the geographical projection of the Earth from the North Pole to the tropic of Capricorn with lines of longitude measured from the Fortunate Isles. It was acquired by the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum at an unknown point and accessioned in 1925 (accession number R16014). It is not held by Wellcome Collection. Related images: M0017318EA, M0017319

April 1959

1 photograph glass plate negative; 10.2 x 12.7 cm

Wellcome Collection holds the accession register which provides an entry for the item: R16014

Copyright is held by Wellcome Collection

Catalogue data comes from a combination of entries in the original glass plate registers, metadata created when the glass plates were digitised in the early 2000s and enhancements made by the cataloguer in 2022.

Please consult the digitised version as this item is fragile. Email library@wellcomecollection.org to request access to the physical item.