Accession No

1665

Brief Description

horizontal dial, Butterfield type, by Claude Langlois, French, 1750 (c)

Origin

France; Paris; Aux Galleries du Louvre

Maker

Langlois, Claude

Class

dials; horology

Earliest Date

1750

Latest Date

1750

Inscription Date

Material

metal (silver); glass; hide (leather); paper

Dimensions

breadth 63mm; height 71mm; compass diameter 31.5mm

Special Collection

Fitzwilliam collection

Provenance

On loan from The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge. From the Spencer George Percival Bequest, 1923.

Inscription

‘Langlois Aux Galleries du Louvre/AParis’ (base)

Description Notes

Silver; octagonal dial plate standing on compass base and one turned foot; decoratively engraved at base of style; four hour scales ‘pour 52 Degrez’, ‘49’, ‘46’ and ‘43’ lat; calibrated 4-12-8, IIII-XII-VIII, twice by 1 to 15’; folding adjustable bird style, decoratively engraved and graduated 40-60˚ by 5 to 1; inset 16 point compass, fleur-de-lys north, offset for magnetic variation 15˚ W; verso of compass box ‘Premier cadran’ & list of towns and latitudes (see file). Verso of dial plate decoratively engraved style spring plate and list of towns etc; green leather covered case lined with orange leather.
(not original? see file).

Condition: fair/good (case is in poor condition).

References

Events

Description
The Butterfield dial was named after the man who popularised this kind of sundial. His name was Michael Butterfield, and he was an instrument maker in Paris, though he originally came from England.

Butterfield dials are a type of horizontal dial, normally octagonal or oval in shape, and are quite small. They have several different hour scales marked out on them, each of which is used at a different latitude. However, the gnomon also needs to be adjusted for the latitude. Butterfield designed an elegant scale for the gnomon adjustment, in the form of a bird. The beak of the bird marked the place on the latitude scale of the gnomon, which was lifted up or down until it was at the correct latitude. A compass in the bottom of the dial was used to make sure that it was pointing in the right direction.

This kind of sundial was not very accurate, but they were made in very large numbers, so they were obviously very popular. Most of the existing ones came from France, where many different makers produced them.

FM:39815