Accession No

1722

Brief Description

horizontal dial, Butterfield type, by Macquart, circa 1730

Origin

Paris; France

Maker

Macquart

Class

dials; horology

Earliest Date

1730

Latest Date

1730

Inscription Date

Material

glass; paper (card); fishskin (shagreen); cloth (velvet); metal (brass, silver)

Dimensions

box length 81mm; breadth 76mm; thickness 18mm; dial breadth 55mm; height 64mm; compass diameter 31mm

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. 1935-76.

Inscription

‘Maquart AParis’

Description Notes

Silver; style, compass and fittings in gilt brass; octagonal dial plate; standing on compass base and one foot; decoratively engraved at base of style; outer hour scale terminates in scrolls; 3 hour scales for ‘50’, ‘45’ & ‘42’ lat calibrated IIII-XII-VIII by 1 to 15’, 4-12-8 and 5-12-7 by 1 to 30’; folding adjustable bird style, decoratively engraved; calibrated 40-45-55, subdivided to 1o; inset compass, with 4 points (needle a replacement). Verso of dial plate; decoratively engraved style-spring plate list of towns & latitudes (see file).
Fitted card box covered with shagreen and lined with blue velvet. Brass hinge and push-button fastener.

Condition: fair (box fair).

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:39818