MARIKA SARDAR: I'm Marika Sardar, a Research Associate in the Department of Islamic Art and I'm here with Maryam Ekhtiar, to talk to you about this collection of objects having to do with astronomy and astrology.

MARYAM EKHTIAR: This mina'i bowl has a very interesting composition….It has a sun in the middle with… planets circling the sun and then. . .princes on horseback.. some playing music, encircling the planets. You also have at the top princely figures seated, a whole row in a register.So this bowl associates astrology with the princely cycle.

MARIKA SARDAR: The book that you see in the center of the case relates to the theme of astronomy in a slightly different way. It was written by a 10th-century astronomer named al-Sufi and it's his recording of the 48 constellations that we see in the night sky. So this is an actual work of scientific research, and he based it on Ptolemy's – the Greek scientist's – study of the stars, but he updated what was known about the constellations by making his own observations and by adding traditions from the Arab Bedouin knowledge of the stars. And accompanying his texts and description of each constellation are two illustrations of each constellation, so one is as though you're looking at it from above on a celestial globe and one is as though you're looking at the constellation from the earth.

MARYAM EKHTIAR: Astronomy was somewhat of an esoteric subject as many people were not literate and were not educated enough to appreciate it or understand it.

MARIKA SARDAR: So, although the study of astronomy was beyond most people they were interested in astrology for the simple fact that it.. had the possibility of predicting what could happen to them in the future. It was against the strict orthodox beliefs in Islam but just had a very strong popular presence.

NARRATOR: To hear more about the role of astronomy, astrology, and scientific inquiry, press PLAY.