Accession No

1180

Brief Description

ring dial, attributed to Thomas Wright, English, first half 18th Century

Origin

England [based on attributed maker]

Maker

T. W. [attributed to Thomas Wright]

Class

dials

Earliest Date

1700

Latest Date

1752

Inscription Date

Material

metal (brass)

Dimensions

length 59mm; diameter 54mm; thickness 12mm

Special Collection

Provenance

Transferred from the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography, University of Cambridge (now Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology) in 09/1953.

Inscription

‘T W’

Description Notes

Brass with fixed suspension loop. Pair of pinhole gnomons set in a sliding ring with raised clasp joint. On the outer face of the ring a pair of date scales divided to initialled month and marked ‘W’ and ‘S’ for winter and summer; each subdivided to 10 days. Corresponding scale at clasp joint marked ‘A B C’.
Inner face carries hour scale divided 6 - 12, 1 - 6 and 4 - 12, 1 - 8, both numbered by 1 and subdivided to 30 minutes; and in three bands ‘A B C’.

Condition: fair.

References

Events

Description
Ring Dial

The ring dial is one of the oldest forms of portable sundial. It was probably developed by the Romans. It is also one of the simplest dials, and was often made very cheaply for the lower end of the market.

Ring dials tell the time from the height of the sun in the sky. They are generally not very accurate. They are used by moving the central band until the pin-hole is lined up against the correct date. After this, the dial is held up and turned until the sunlight falls through the pin-hole onto the hour scale on the other side of the ring. The small circle of light will show the hour, though it is left up to the user to work out whether to choose the morning or the afternoon reading.

FM:41413