Accession No

0314

Brief Description

quadrant and T-square, German, circa 1600

Origin

Germany

Maker

Class

drawing

Earliest Date

1600

Latest Date

1600

Inscription Date

Material

wood; ivory; metal

Dimensions

quadrant length 123mm; breadth 85mm; thickness 12mm

Special Collection

Robert Whipple collection

Provenance

Purchased from Gertrude Hamilton (trading as ’Mercator’), Paris, on 25/08/1928.

Inscription

Description Notes

Wood and ivory hinged right angle with ivory arc. Limbs graduated [0] - [52], numbered by 10, divided to 1/2. Arc, which slides through hinged limb, graduated [0] - 12, numbered by 1, divided to 1/4, and [0] - 90˚ (10- 60˚ numbered by 10; 0 - 50˚ divided by lines to 1˚; 50- [90˚] by dots to 1˚). (Shaped end to arc. Ivory endpiece on hinged arm; metal hook here too. Hole through both arms (when closed) near hinge. 26-1-2000). Engraved foliage motifs along edge of limbs.
Ivory T-square graduated [0] - [52˚], numbered to 10, divided to 1/2. Hole through shaped T section.
Figures in red on both.

Condition: good.

References

Events

Description
Quadrant
A quadrant is a quarter of a circle, and there are different types of instrument that come under that description. The size of quadrants varied hugely from Tycho Brahe’s highly successful huge 2m radius one, to the more portable versions of the 18th century. In all examples it was important to keep movement, wear and flexure to a minimum, especially if results were to form part of an extended research program and to be compared with one another.

The quadrant was the principle measuring instrument of astronomy in the 17th and 18th centuries, being used in all major observatories. Plain sights (where the angle was simply read off by eye) were replaced by telescopic sights in more sophisticated examples.

18/10/2002
Created by: Saffron Clackson on 18/10/2002

FM:43386