The astrolabe as art, the astrolabe in art

Many modern books on Islamic art use the image of the astrolabe rete (the star map on the front of an astrolabe) on the cover or as an example of the Islamic decorative arts. Some astrolabes are genuine works of art rather than simply astronomical calculating devices - elaborately engraved and beautifully made. The decorator of the astrolabe was sometimes a different person to the astrolabist who calculated the scales, indicating that the astrolabe's function as a beautiful object was of importance at the time it was made. Astrolabes seem to have been highly prized possessions, and were treated as objects with a dual purpose: functionality and beauty.

Some Islamic observatories were huge, with many scholars and instruments and generous funding. Others were small groups of scholars, often centred on the muwaqqit (a professional astronomer who made calculations for religious purposes) at a mosque. The astrolabe became symbolic of astronomy, astronomers and observatories in Islamic art. Both visual and textual use was made of the astrolabe as an astronomical object; the picture illustrates astronomers using instruments including the astrolabe:

The large observatories were seen as status symbols for the patron funding them, and were represented in writing or pictures about that patron. For example, an epic poem called the History of the King of Kings was written by 'Ala ad-Din Mansur-Shirazi in honour of Sultan Murad II. It describes the work of the astronomers in the observatory of Taqf ad-Din at Istanbul and illustrates this section with a picture of a group of people, some of whom are using astrolabes to take observations.