Accession No
0027
Brief Description
pocket horizontal dial, by David Beringer, German, 2/2 18th Century
Origin
Germany; Nürnberg
Maker
Beringer, David
Class
dials
Earliest Date
1750
Latest Date
1800
Inscription Date
Material
metal (brass, silver, steel); wood; glass
Dimensions
76 x 78 mm; d (dial) 63 mm
Special Collection
Robert Whipple collection
Provenance
Purchased by Robert Stewart Whipple in Amsterdam in 03/1922.
Inscription
‘David Beringer f.’ (below hour ring)
Description Notes
Ebonised wooden base on 4 brass feet. Silvered brass dial plate with pierced centre revealing compass set in the wooden base. 8-point paper compass rose, hand coloured dial with 8 cardinal points, fleur de lys for N and magnetic variation marked at about 10˚ W. Folding gnomon with angled of 51˚ 30´. Hour scale divided 4 - 12, 1 - 8, numbered by 1, subdivided to15 minutes.
Needle a replacement.
Condition fair (some tarnishing); complete.
References
Events
Description
The horizontal dial is the most common form of sundial. The portable version proved very popular with the upper classes during the 19th Century. During this period it could best be described as the wristwatch of its day.
The hour lines are engraved onto a horizontal surface, with a gnomon (pointer) in the centre. Seasonal variations (caused by the earth’s orbit being elliptical, not circular) have to be compensated for, as they can affect the raw reading by up to 18 minutes.
18/10/2002
Created by: Saffron Clackson and Boris Jardine on 18/10/2002
FM:39812
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