This fine astrolabe belongs to the earliest tradition of instrument making at the Moghul court in Lahore and is dateable to the second half of the 16th century. It shares several characteristics of an astrolabe by Ilah-Dad, who was the first of a family of astrolabists in Lahore (Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad [IC no. 1120]) and so it is probable that he may have been the maker. The various markings on the instrument reveal the work of two different engravers from the same Moghul milieu: the main engraver (perhaps Ilahdad himself) engraved the limbus and the gazetteer, as well as the rete and three of the five plates, while the second person completed the markings on the back of the instrument and the remaining two plates.

The throne, devoid of any decorative elements, is high and plain, except for an inscription in a later hand on its face reading, 'bi-ni'mat Allah' (by God's munificence). In the mater is a gazetteer giving the coordinates of 59 localities. There are about 19 star pointers on the rete, 13 of them labelled. The plates cover a range of latitudes between 21° and 54°, with special latitudes featured for Bamyan (34° 35') in central Afghanistan, northwest of Kabul - part of the Moghul Empire in the 16th century - and Samarqand (39° 37'). On the back of the instrument are two altitude scales on the rim and a sine quadrant in the upper-left. In the lower-half is a table of the lunar mansions and a double shadow square. The alidade, whose extremities are unusually sharp, seems to be original.