Accession No

1674

Brief Description

diptych dial, by David Beringer, German, 1800 (c)

Origin

Germany; Nuremberg

Maker

Beringer, David

Class

dials

Earliest Date

1800

Latest Date

1800

Inscription Date

Material

wood; metal (brass, steel); glass; paper; rope (string)

Dimensions

length 89mm; width 58mm; 19mm; height when open 94mm

Special Collection

Holden-White collection

Provenance

On loan from The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge. Donated by Charles Holden-White to the Fitzwilliam Museum. Charles Holden-White Collection no. 1935-28.

Inscription

‘Verfertigt von David Beringer’ (compass bowl)

Description Notes

Wooden diptych dial covered in engraved hand-coloured paper scales with decorative motifs.
Leaf Ia: list of towns and latitudes (see file).
Leaf Ib: vertical dial for 50˚ N divided 7 - 12, 1 - 5, numbered by 1, subdivided to 15 minutes. Attachment points for string gnomon for 55, 54, 53, 50, 48, 46, 44, 42, 40, 38, 36.
Leaf IIa: horizontal dial with scales for 55, 50, 45 and 40˚ N. Three divided 4 - 12, 1 - 8, numbered by 1, subdivided to 30 minutes; one divided VI -XII, I - VI, numbered by I, subdivided to 30 minutes. Inset compass with 8-point rose; magnetic variation marked at 20˚W of N.
Replacement string gnomon.

fair condition

References

Events

Description
The Diptych dial is a common form of portable multi-function sundial. Diptych dials were made popular by the instrument makers in Nuremberg during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They are usually made of ivory with brass fittings, and are often elaborately decorated. The name of the device derives from the Greek diptychos for a pair of folding writing tablets, which the instrument resembles.

Diptych dials consist of two leaves hinged together, with a string ‘gnomon’ stretched between the inner surfaces of the leaves for casting a shadow. To use the device as a sundial the lower leaf must be placed parallel to the horizon and the upper leaf must be at a right angle vertically to it. The gnomon must then be aligned with the meridian of the place where it is being used by using the inbuilt magnetic compass. Time can then be read from the horizontal or vertical dial by the location of the shadow cast by the string gnomon.

In addition to the horizontal and vertical dials, diptych dials normally carry a number of other features, such as equinoctial dials, windroses, tables of latitude for adjusting the string gnomon for different locations, epact tables, lunar volvelles for telling time at night by the moon, and various pin-gnomon dials for telling the time according to Babylonian or Italian hours, or for calculating the position of the Sun in the zodiac.
27/05/2009
Created by: Joshua Nall on 27/05/2009

FM:39753