Accession No

1101

Brief Description

horizontal dial, Butterfield type, by Delure, circa 1700

Origin

Paris; France

Maker

Delure

Class

dials; horology

Earliest Date

1700

Latest Date

1700

Inscription Date

Material

metal (silver, steel); hide (leather); glass; cloth (velvet)

Dimensions

case length 76 mm; breadth 71 mm; thickness 19 mm (thickness 14mm; 1-2-2000)

Special Collection

Provenance

Purchased from A. Spero in 09/1951.

Inscription

‘Delure AParis’ (base)

Description Notes

In silver. Octagonal base, 61mm across, decorated at the base of the gnomon; and signed: ‘Delure AParis’; 4 hour scales for 50, 45, 40 and 35˚ of latitude, calibrated 4-12-8, IIII-XII-VIII, 4-12-8, V-XII-VII by I subdivided to 15 minutes.
Inset compass 32mm od. with 16 cardinal points ‘N, nne NE ene E...’, fleur de lis north, and offset for magnetic variation about 10˚ W. Decorated ‘bird’ gnomon adjustable for latitude, calibrated 35-55 by 10 subdivided to 1˚.
Verso of base list of towns and latitudes: Paris 49, Rozes 42, Tolede 40, Madrid 41, Bayonne 43, Carthagene 37, Alicante 38, Grenade 37, Lion 46, Rome 42, Cadiz 36, Mallaga 36, Bragance 42, Valadolid 42, Lisbonne 39, Seville 37, Cap Finisterre 43, Turin 44, Segouie 41.
Verso of compass: Barcelonne 41, Badajos 39, Pampelume 43, Tortoze 41, Taragone 41, Salamanque 41.
In case covered with coarse grain leather, lined with velvet.
Paper label on bottom of case.

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:43196