Accession No
6794
Brief Description
pocket compass dial / sundial, with list of 'New World' Caribbean, Central and South American city latitudes, Spanish, 1560 (c)
Origin
Spain
Maker
Class
dials
Earliest Date
1560
Latest Date
1625
Inscription Date
Material
metal (brass, gold, silver)
Dimensions
diameter 60mm
Special Collection
Provenance
Purchased from Tesseract, New York, USA, in May 2023.
Inscription
[Front table]
'Brugos 42
Baeca 38
Bilbao 42
Avila 40
Cuenca 40
Camora 40
Leon 42
Lisboa 39
Malaga 36
Madrid 40
Alicante 38
Guadalupe 39
Caragoca 41
Salamanca 41
Segovia 41
Siguenca 41
Santiago 43
Toledo 39
Valencia 39
Sovia 42
Ouiedo 42
S.Lucar 37'
[Front outer ring]
'Roma 41, Paris 50, Sevilla 37, Murcia 37, Carmona 37, Cordova 37, Ecija 37, Granada 37, Jaen 37, Cartagena 37, Xerez dela frontera 37, Londres 52, Amberes 51'
[Back table]
'Quito 1/2
Puertoviejo 1
Guayaquil 3
Payata 4
Saña 6
Truxilla 7
Sanata 9
Chancay 11
Guamanga 12
Guancaūelica 13
el Cuzco 16
Ariquipa 16
Arica 19
La Paz 16
Oruvo 18
La Plata 19
Potos 20
Tucuman 25
Copiapo 26
Cõquimbo 20
Santiago 32
Concepcion 36
Chilūe 45
Eleshecho 52'
[Bottom outer ring]
'Mexico 20, Lima 12, Cartagena 17, Havana 22, Vera Cruz 18, Tlascala 19,La Puebla 19, Mechoacan 18,S. Luis 21, Gatatecas 21, Guaxaca 21, Guatemala 18, Acapulco 17'
Description Notes
Pocket compass dial / sundial, with list of 'New World' Carribean, Central and South American city latitudes, Spanish, 1560 (c).
Dial and compass made of brass, gold, and silver. Both the lid and the bottom are engraved with names of cities. There is a hoop on the top. Opening the hinged lid, there is a silver chapter ring (engraved with numbers on both sides) and a hinged gnomon. Beneath the dial is the compass, with a magnetic needle and a red compass rose (the latter a modern replacement).
The engraved names of cities on the lid and the bottom are as below, with English translation if different from modern names:
[Front lid]
'Brugos 42
Baeca 38 (Baeza)
Bilbao 42
Avila 40
Cuenca 40
Camora 40 (Zamora)
Leon 42
Lisboa 39 (Lisbon)
Malaga 36
Madrid 40
Alicante 38
Guadalupe 39
Caragoca 41 (Zaragoza)
Salamanca 41
Segovia 41
Siguenca 41
Santiago 43
Toledo 39
Valencia 39
Sovia 42
Ouiedo 42
S.Lucar 37'
[Front outer ring]
'Roma 41 (Rome), Paris 50, Sevilla 37, Murcia 37, Carmona 37, Cordova 37, Ecija 37, Granada 37, Jaen 37 (Jaén), Cartagena 37, Xerez de la frontera 37 (Jerez de la Frontera), Londres 52, Amberes 51'
[Back table]
'Quito 1/2
Puertoviejo 1 (Puerto Viejo)
Guayaquil 3
Payata 4 (Paita)
Saña 6 (Zaña)
Truxilla 7 (Trujillo)
Santa 9
Chancay 11
Guamanga 12 (changed to Huamanga in 1542, changed again to Ayacucho 1825)
Guancaūelica 13
el Cuzco 16 (Cuzco)
Ariquipa 16 (Arequipa)
Arica 19
La Paz 16
Oruvo 18
La Plata 19
Potos 20
Tucuman 25
Copiapo 26
Cõquimbo 20 (Coquimbo)
Santiago 32
Concepcion 36
Chilūe 45 (Chiloé Island)
Eleshecho 52'
[Bottom outer ring]
'Mexico 20, Lima 12, Cartagena 17, Havana 22, Vera Cruz 18, Tlascala 19 (Tlaxcala), La Puebla 19, Mechoacan 18 (Michoacán), S. Luis 21, Gatatecas 21 (Zatatecas), Guaxaca 21 (Oaxaca), Guatemala 18, Acapulco 17'.
The handwriting for the engravings on the front lid is different from the one on the bottom, suggesting that the 'New World' latitudes were added at a later date by someone other than the dial's maker.
References
Events
Description
Sundials are instruments that only tell the local solar time. When travelling around the globe, sundials become inaccurate. This is due to the fact that the azimuth of sun (the highest point of sun throughout the day) varies when moving to different latitudes. This causes great trouble for people who travel to other countries. A simple way is to adjust the gnomon so that it is parallel to the Earth's axis of rotation. In order to do so, knowing the latitude of the city you're in is crucial as it dictates the angle for adjusting the gnomon. This is why it was common to have cities and their latitudes inscribed on pocket sundials, similar to having the country codes printed on a telephone for quick references.
The cities engraved, however, show us the owner's travel needs. In this pocket sundial compass, major Spanish and Portuguese cities are listed, indicating that it was made for a Spanish person. However, on the bottom, cities in the Caribbean, Central and South America, including today's Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina, Mexico, Columbia, Cuba, and Guatemala, can be seen. These cities with Spanish names, or Hispanicised names, show the 'New World' claimed under Spanish colonisation in the mid 16th Century, with the dates they were 'founded' by the Spanish colonisers. This sundial compass corresponds to the Spanish conquistadors' need to know the time and direction when they managed the vast colonies in various latitudes.
Another reference that helps date the sundial compass is the inconsistent Spanish orthography, as some names of the cities do not bear accent marks. This indicates that the engravings might have been done in the mid-16th Century, when Spanish orthography began taking French and Italian accent marks. One of the cities engraved prominently on the front lid, 'Amberes', which is Antwerp in today's English, also helps narrow down the time range, as, from a Catholic Spanish perspective, Antwerp was one of the four major cities in Europe before the Dutch revolt and the eventual sacking of the city by Spain in 1576.
12/05/2023
Created by: Guey-Mei Hsu on 12/05/2023
FM:47621
Images (Click to view full size):
