In the instruments made by Diya al-din Muhammad the production of the Lahore family reached its zenith, both in quantity and quality. Aesthetically his constellation figures are comparable to the human figures in contemporary miniature painting. This small sphere is cast as a single hollow sphere. The names of the zodiac signs are engraved along the ecliptic circle. Ecliptic latitude circles and equatorial tropics and equatorial polar circles are also drawn. The positions of 92 stars are indicated by dots and their names engraved. 

Emperor Humayun had a keen interest in astronomy and astrology, which sparked-off a legacy of interest and patronage of such scientific explorations in the Mughal dynasty. Astrolabes and celestial globes are important tools for astronomical and astrological calculations. Humayun was adept in making use of these highly sophisticated devices and utilised them to decipher auspicious hours before undertaking major life decisions. Understandably, he was a connoisseur and collector of these scientific instruments as well. It is noted that during his travels in Central Asia, in the Iranian city of Tabriz, he had ordered someone to go fetch a globe (kura) from the market. It was another matter, that the person misunderstood the request, and brought back some horses – mares and colts (kurra)! The emperor was amused and regarded this as a good omen.

Under Humayun’s patronage, the manufacturing of astrolabes and celestial globes took place. Unfortunately, no instrument survives from Humayun’s time.

A family of master instrument-makers from the city of Lahore created numerous astrolabes and celestial spheres for the Mughals, with existing instruments dating from 1567 CE to 1691 CE. It is possible that their legacy continued beyond these specific years, however no evidence of such instruments survives to comment further. Nonetheless, this illustrious family played an important role in the history of scientific instrumentation in Hindustan. The contributions of master-craftsmen of this family is comparable to none other.  They played a major role in the scientific, technological and artistic heritage of India. The patriarch of the family was master Allahdad who began the long continuous family tradition of creating astrolabes and celestial globes that continued for four generations. 
Allahdad’s grandson Qaim Muhammad perfected the art of creating hallow celestial globes through the process of cire-perdue or the lost-wax process. Casting a single sphere, without any visible joints is a technological marvel. Before this, the spheres were constructed by joining two concave hemispheres together at the line of the equator. It was his son, Ziya al-Din Muhammad that continued the legacy and truly excelled in the production of these seamless celestial sphere. 

 Ziya al-Din Muhammad was the most prolific and versatile instrument maker and represents the pinnacle of production of astrolabes and celestial spheres. Between 1645 and 1680, he is said to have created 32 astrolabes and 16 celestial globes, out of which the one exhibited at the Humayun’s Tomb Site Museum is one.
This antiquity is an example of Ziya al-Din's craftsmanship that displays his scientific, technical and artistic excellence. 
Ziya al-Din was known not only for of the quantum of his production, but also his innovative designs. One such example is that of a celestial sphere on which he created small fissures and holes on the surface of the globe to indicate the positions of the fixed stars. Once this was illuminated from the inside, from the opaque sphere, the starts and constellations twinkled-through the perforations to beautifully represent the night sky. He intelligently combined the art of making lampshades with the ancient one of globe-making.