Accession No
1678
Brief Description
ivory diptych dial, made by Hans Tucher, circa 1600
Origin
Nuremberg (Nürnberg); Germany
Maker
Tucher. Hans
Class
dials
Earliest Date
1600
Latest Date
1600
Inscription Date
Material
metal (brass, gold, steel); ivory; glass
Dimensions
Oval; length 108; width 73mm; depth 14mm; height when open 111mm
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. 1935-32.
Inscription
‘H D’
Description Notes
Oval diptych dial with gilt-brass fittings.
Leaf Ia: lunar volvelle marked ‘NACHT CAMPAST’ ; gilt-brass volvelle disc with lunar phase diagram, marked ‘NACHT VHR’.
Leaf Ib: attachment points for string style, ‘POLVS CAMPAST’, for 39, 45, 48, 51, 5[2] and 57˚ N and marked ‘die sochlein 39 45 48 51 57 sein die poins heh der land und stett’.
Leaf IIa: horizontal dial with string gnomon (missing), for 39, 45, 48, 51 and 57˚ N; hour scale divided 4 - 12, 1 - 8, numbered by 1. Inset compass with hand-painted compass card; 16 point rose; fleur-de-lys for North and moon for east; offset 5˚ E of N for magnetic variation. Sides of compass bowl covered in gold leaf. Also marked ‘ELEVATIO. POLI. 39, 45, 48, 51, 57’.
Leaf IIb: three brass feet. Volvelle for Italian hours and length of day marked ‘WINTER’, ‘tag leng’ and ‘SVMMER’. Gilt brass volvelle disc divided 8 - 24, numbered by 1, marked ‘GROS VHR’; leaf inscribed ‘da vergleicht sieh die gros uhr gegen der Kleinen uhren’. Also maker’s mark (serpent) and stamp of quality.
fair condition
missing string
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:39775
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