Accession No

1664

Brief Description

horizontal dial, Butterfield type, brass, by Pierre Le Maire, French, 1750 (c)

Origin

France; Paris

Maker

Le Maire, Pierre

Class

dials; horology

Earliest Date

1735

Latest Date

1785

Inscription Date

Material

metal (brass); glass

Dimensions

length 65 mm; breadth 58 mm; thickness 10 mm

Special Collection

Fitzwilliam collection

Provenance

On loan from The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge. From the Spencer George Percival Bequest, 1923.

Inscription

‘ P. Le Maire AParis’ (base)

Description Notes

Horizontal dial, Butterfield type, brass, by Pierre Le Maire, French, c. 1750.

Brass; octagonal dial plate standing on compass base and one turned foot; decoratively engraved at the base of the style; scroll at front by compass box; 4 hour scales ‘52de’ ‘49de’ ‘46de’ ‘43de’ calibrated 4-12-8, IIII-XII-VIII, 4-12-8, V-XII-VII by 1 to 15’; folding adjustable bird style, decoratively engraved calibrated 40-60˚ by 10 to 1˚. Inset compass, 32 points, 16 named, fleur de lis north. Offset 15˚W for magnetic variation; verso the dial plate: decoratively engraved style spring plate, list of towns and latitudes on plate and compass box.
Signed: ‘P. Le Maire AParis’.

Condition: good/fair; complete.

References

Events

Description
The Butterfield dial was named after the man who popularised this kind of sundial. His name was Michael Butterfield, and he was an instrument maker in Paris, though he originally came from England.

Butterfield dials are a type of horizontal dial, normally octagonal or oval in shape, and are quite small. They have several different hour scales marked out on them, each of which is used at a different latitude. However, the gnomon also needs to be adjusted for the latitude. Butterfield designed an elegant scale for the gnomon adjustment, in the form of a bird. The beak of the bird marked the place on the latitude scale of the gnomon, which was lifted up or down until it was at the correct latitude. A compass in the bottom of the dial was used to make sure that it was pointing in the right direction.

This kind of sundial was not very accurate, but they were made in very large numbers, so they were obviously very popular. Most of the existing ones came from France, where many different makers produced them.

FM:43194