Accession No
1682
Brief Description
ivory diptych dial, by Conrad Karner, German, 1632
Origin
Germany; Nuremberg (Nürnberg)
Maker
Karner, Conrad
Class
dials
Earliest Date
1632
Latest Date
1632
Inscription Date
Material
ivory; glass; metal (brass, steel)
Dimensions
width 76mm; depth 113mm; height 16mm (closed)
Special Collection
Holden-White collection
Provenance
On loan from The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge. Donated by Charles Holden-White to the Fitzwilliam Museum. Holden-White collection no. 1935-36
Inscription
‘CONRAD KARNER’ (leaf IIa)
Description Notes
Ivory diptych dial with brass fittings.
Leaf Ia: wind rose with 32 points, numbered 1 - 32 from East, 16 named. Pierced to show the north point of the compass in leaf IIa. Split in leaf repaired by 2 brass plates. Foliage decoration. Lacks index and wind vane.
Leaf Ib: vertical dial with pin gnomon divided for unequal hours and length of day, marked ‘DIE PLANETENS VND DIE TAG LENG’, divided 1 - 12 and 8 - 16, numbered by 1. Attachment points for string gnomon for 54, 51, 48, 45 and 42˚ N. List of towns and latitudes.
Leaf IIa: horizontal string gnomon dial (string missing), divided 4 - 12, 1 - 8, numbered by 1, subdivided to 15 minutes, with scales for 42, 45, 48, 51 and 54˚ N. Inset compass offset 4˚E of N for magnetic variation; in the compass bowl the maker’s mark (hunting horn) twice. Combined horizontal dial with pin gnomon for Italian hours and Babylonian hours, divided 9 - 23 and 1 - 15, numbered by 1. Foliage decoration.
Leaf IIb: lunar volvelle with stamped brass volvelle disc. Surrounded by epact tables, marked ‘EPACTA IVLIANI ANNO 1623’ and ‘EPACTA GREGORI ANNO’ from 23/13 (1627). Foliage decoration. 4 brass feet.
Suspension ring and wind vane compartment.
poor condition, very cracked
missing plumbob and 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:39780
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