- Period
- Late Gothic
- Date
- 1462
- Collection
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Object no.
- 923639
Astrolabe
Regiomontanus (Johannes Müller), 1462
The Metropolitan Museum of Art · The Cloisters Collection, 2025 · Public domain
- Maker
- Regiomontanus (Johannes Müller)
- Date
- 1462
- Medium
- Copper alloy
- Dimensions
- H. 13.5 cm (with ring); depth 0.4 cm
- Period
- Late Gothic
The record
Why it matters
An astrolabe is a flat model of the heavens that allowed its user to tell the time, survey and make astronomical calculations. This example carries an openwork star map on its face and an engraved angel on its reverse, and its inscription names the patron, Cardinal Bessarion, and the maker, John, thought to be the astronomer Regiomontanus. It records a meeting of Greek learning brought west from Byzantium with the new mathematical astronomy of the German lands.