Heavenly Figures 1

Introduction and the Moon

In this new series I’ll be taking a close look at the way the astrological planets and Zodiac signs were depicted in the Islamic world, through a series of objects dating from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (AD). Why this specific period:

“It was only in the twelfth century that individual astrological images […], or astrological cycles that might include either the seven planets, the twelve signs of the Zodiac, or both groups in a concentric arrange­ment, began to appear on stone reliefs and on metal­work in a geographical area that extended eastward from the Jazira ( a region including modern northern Iraq, northeastern Syria, and southeastern Turkey) to eastern Khurasan (corresponding to present-day eastern Iran and Afghanistan). "¹

The figurative style used in many of these objects through the medium of inlaid work is particularly lovely to my eyes and I’ve been focusing on it for other purposes, so there’s also a little subjectivity to the selection, but I have to draw a line at where to stop this non-exhaustive survey anyway. I’ll complement the images with correspondences provided in Ghāyat al-Hakīm, the tenth- or eleventh-century magical text from which I translated ink recipes a year ago.

These images and symbols are largely familiar, but not always, and the ways in which they differ from today’s globally standardised images remind us that we live in a culturally impoverished era.

For a brief but erudite general introduction, I suggest Astronomy and Astrology in the Medieval Islamic World by Marika Sardar.² I’m just going to put it in a nutshell: Astronomers of the Islamic world inherited knowledge from Greek, Iranian and Indian sources, but took the science to new heights of precision, refining instruments and building observatories to deepen their understanding of the movements of celestial bodies. The astrological aspect (the influence of such bodies on human lives) was controversial but for all that it was deeply embedded in the various cultures and a popular subject for decorative and/or talismanic art.³

The medieval geocentric model of the Cosmos, in its general shape, was shared by both the Islamic and Christian worlds: Around the Earth⁴, the seven “wanderers” (planetai) rotate, each defining its own separate sphere. These are in order (as observable from here): the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The eighth sphere is that of Fixed Stars, in other words the constellations that appear stationery to our eyes (the entire sphere “rotating” as one), including those that correspond the zodiac and to the lunar mansions⁵. The model continues into archetypal and divine spheres, but this is as far as we need to go for this series’ purposes.

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The Objects

Before moving on to our first planet, the Moon, I need to introduce the principal objects that provided the astrological images in question. (As usual, the first article in a series ends up extra-long!) Other objects will also enter the picture on occasion, but our main cast is as follows:

Astrolabe 1: Made in Yemen in 1291, its back features unusual, older symbols for the Planets (Met Museum 91.1.535)

Astrolabe 2: Made in the 1220s somewhere in the Near East, it shows classical Zodiac imagery but also, uniquely, a fully illustrated ring of the lunar mansions (History of Science Museum, inv.37148)

Astrolabe 3: Made in 1241 in the Jazira, its back has full illustrations of the Zodiac (British Museum 1855,0709.1)

Basin: Made in Egypt or Syria in the late 1200s or early 1300s. Its bottom has the Sun at the centre, the other 6 planets around it, and the 12 signs of the Zodiac as an outer ring (Met Museum 91.1.553)

Lidded bowl known as the Vaso Vescovali: Made in Khurasan around 1200, its complete and complex astrological imagery is beautifully preserved. It’s also unusual in that the planetary figures each have six arms to carry their respective emblems, an Indian influence. It shows eight planets, not seven, but that’s for a later installement… (British Museum 1950,0725.1)

Painted ceramic bowl: Made in Central or Northern Iran in the late 1100s or early 1200s, it shows the planets around the Sun in the style of (and among) courtly imagery (Met Museum 57.36.4)

Ewer 1: Made in Khurasan between 1180 and 1210, it features the zodiac signs. Some of the inlays have deteriorated, and the surviving details are tantalising (Met Museum 44.15)

Ewer 2: A base made in Iran in the first half of the 13th c., its imagery is also fascinating despite a loss of detail (Met Museum 91.1.530)

Ewer 3: Made in Herat, Afghanistan in the late 1100s, it features the zodiac signs again and helps us imagine the details lost in the previous two ewers (Musée du Louvre OA 5548)

Inkwell: Such a beautiful and beautifully preserved inkwell, made in Iran in the early 1400s, with the twelve signs of the zodiac. The three water signs fall on the plaques that attach suspension rings to the inkwell. (Met Museum 59.69.2)

Pen box: This fabulously detailed object was made in Iran in 1281, and features the zodiac signs in groups of four on the lid, and the seven planets inside the lid (British Museum 1891,0623.5)

Trays: The image shows one of two nearly identical trays, made in early 14th century Mamluk Egypt, which show that (relative) mass production was practiced. All seven planets and twelve signs are represented, in a style very similar to the basin above, but they are only silhouettes with no detailing (Met Museum 91.1.604 and 91.1.605)

Manuscript 1: Kitāb al-Mawālīd, of uncertain date but no later than 1300. It provides us with detailed and coloured versions of the imagery inlaid in metal on the previous objects, but also meaning-bearing variations (BNF MS Arabe 2583)

Manuscript 2: A Turkish volume, Metaliʿü's-saʿadet dates to 1582, much later than the period I defined, but I included it to show how enduring this visual tradition was until it got completely absorbed by the western standard (BNF MS Supplément turc 242)

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Picturing the Moon (Al-Qamar القمر)

Perhaps mercifully after such a long intro, the Moon is straightforward in its imagery: a human figure holding a crescent (inscribed in a circle) around its face or as a face. This tends to be a female figure, though I’m not convinced by Carboni’s statement that “[t]he concept of the feminine nature of the Moon probably developed in Arabic folklore”⁶ for the simple reason that in Arabic the moon is a masculine word, as are the words for full moon (badr) and crescent (hilāl). It’s the sun that is feminine. Moon deities in the region were male as far as I know. I could be wrong but I don’t think the feminine imagery of the Moon owes anything to Arab culture, but instead came from the East along with the style of clothing she’s usually portrayed wearing.

Pen box, and the rather alarming multi-limbed Moon of the Vaso Vescovali

Basin and Trays

Painted ceramic bowl, and a Mamluk bowl from 14th-century Egypt

Manuscript 1 has a detailed Moon person when it features in the main image, and simple versions for "thumbnails"

Manuscript 2

Because the Moon has such importance and positivity in Islamic cultures, this figure can sometimes be seen on its own, repeated on certain objects without any other astrological context, evidently as a talismanic and protective presence.

Detail from a candlestick (Met Museum 91.1.523) where the Moon is repeated on its own.

Not all objects depict the planets as firgures on their own, but it’s extremely common for the zodiac images to have the planetary lords built in to the iconography of the sign. This is particularly true of Cancer, which is ruled by the Moon: it almost always shows the planet, reduced to its crescent or disc face, between the crab’s claws.

Inkwell, and another inkwell made in Khurasan around 1200.

Ewer 1, and a tray stand made in Syria in the second half of the 13th c. (Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, MW.110.1999)

In Astrolabe 2, the planets are only represented as simple faces under their written name – except the Moon, which still sports its crescent despite the tiny scale.

In terms of symbol, the crescent (going back to Greco-byzantine tradition) comes as no surprise. It can face left or right, and is also the symbol for the metal silver.

Astrolabe 1

To finish, here are some of the correspondences for the Moon listed in Ghāyat al-Hakīm:

Languages: Slavonic الصقالبة and Sabean الصابئة

Clothing: furs الفراء and kerchiefs المناديل

Taste: Insipid تفاهة

Places: Springs العيون, swamps السباخ, snow-covered places مواضع الثلوج, water in general المياه اجمع

Gemstones: Small pearls اللؤلؤ الصغار

Metals: Silver الفضّة and white metals الأجساد البيض

Plants: Papyrus البردي, reeds القصب, daisies الاقحوان, all sweet-smelling white plants, all trees that don’t stand on a “leg”, grasses الحشائش والمراعي, legumes البقول

Pharmaceutics: Those that are both food and medicine such as cinnamon القرفة , long pepper الدار فلفل , ginger الزنجبيل , cassia دار صيني , and any that is cold and moist with an insipid taste and a white or green hue.

Animals: Grey workhorses البراذين الشهب, mules البغال, asses الحمير, cows البقر, rabbits الارانب, birds that are light and fast-moving in the air, every white bird and water bird, white snakes and white worms.

Colours: Made up of yellowness الصفرة and blonde الشقرة hues

Next stop: Mercury!

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1. Carboni, Stefano. Following the Stars: Images of the Zodiac in Islamic Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1997, p6.

2. For more in-depth insights into astrology (as I only deal with the imagery), Ali A. Olomi is probably the best person to follow, on Twitter or Patreon.

3. I’ve given an idea of the importance of the planets in my series examining the art of Nizāmi’s Haft Peykar.

4. I have to scream about this here: Medieval people did not believe the Earth was flat. Only us modern primitives who never look at the skies can be so wilfully stupid. Ancient cultures were fiercely observant of natural phenomenons above and below. The earliest writings revealing an understanding of the Earth being spherical date back to fifth century BC Greece, and Eratosthenes calculated the planet’s circumference around 240BC. The entire Medieval world was based on Greek teachings and took it for granted the Earth was a sphere.

5. Segments of the ecliptic through which the Moon passes in its orbit around the Earth

6. Following the Stars p11.