This Brass Astrolabe, made by Muhammad Muqim during the reign of Jahangir (1605-1627) as it is inscribed, is a portable pocket-size device. Astrolabes have various applications ranging from the astrological, the astronomical, and the religious to seasonal and daily timekeeping and tide tables.

The production of astrolabes and celestial globes in the Indian subcontinent was dominated by Ustad Allahdad and his descendants in the second half of the 16th century and the 17th century. Their astrolabes display a fine combination of geometrical precision, a high level of metal craft, and aesthetic beauty. Allah Dad's descendants revolutionized the production of the celestial globes by casting them as single hollow spheres by the lost-wax process. About a hundred and twenty astrolabes and twenty-five globes made by this family are extant today in museums and private collections in India, the Middle East, Europe, and the USA. 

Astronomers and astrologers used the astrolabe for studying the position of celestial bodies. The provision of a simple sighting device made it possible to calculate the elevation of a particular star or of the sun and thus both determine the time and indicate the direction of the North Pole. The instrument consists of a solid body, the mater, into which fit a series of planets and a revolving circular web-like star map, called the 'rete' in Europe and the 'ankabut' (spider) in the Islamic world. The various elements, supplemented by a sighting vane (the alidade), on the back of the instrument, were held together by a pin.

An astrolabe is a highly sophisticated scientific instrument used primarily for astronomical and astrological observations and calculations. An astrolabe is a two-dimensional version of a celestial globe that consists of a few elements that neatly come together to make a highly portable and versatile device. 
An astrolabe, usually circular, consists of some fixed and movable parts, of which inscribed discs are an important feature. The fundamental principle applied is the process of stereographic projection – in which a three-dimensional sphere is mapped onto a two-dimensional plane. In this case, celestial spheres and related circles are projected on the crafted discs of the astrolabe. Of these discs the tympans or plates represent the sky as seen from the observer’s latitude, and contains engravings of the equator, tropics and other coordinates of the celestial sphere. A tympan is made specific to a particular latitude; thus, an astrolabe usually consists of a set of tympans - for various terrestrial localities – usually major towns and cities.
Another crucial element is the rete which is another disc placed over the tympan. The rete, usually beautifully and intricately made, indicates the stars and constellations. This meticulously made, lace-like plate consists of many gaps and spaces that allow the lower plates to be legible. Thus, the freely moving rete over the tympan, simulates celestial motion over the select locality or latitude on any given day.
The astrolabe is utilised to measure movement of celestial objects, accurately measure time of the day and night, current latitude, altitude of a celestial body above the horizon; apart from being used for navigation, calculating distances, height and depth of objects and trigonometric problems. Some Islamic astrolabes also contained additional curves to indicate prayer times.
As per the inscriptions, this particular astrolabe was created in 1034 AH or 1625 CE by Muhammad Muqim, who was the third-generation master instrument-makers from the illustrious family in Lahore. The younger son of Mulla Isa, Muqim has the largest number of astrolabes to his credit. Between the years 1609 to 1659 CE, he created 37 exquisite astrolabes, and additionally 8 unsigned ones are also attributed to him.
Muhammad Muqim was a prolific astrolabe maker. The astrolabes crafted by him, now scattered across various collections around the world, illustrate not only the quantum of his work but also his creativity and versatility in design. Surely, Muqim’s astrolabes were a priced collector’s item of the Mughal court.