Accession No

0815

Brief Description

horizontal plate inclining sun dial, by Jacques Le Maire, French, 1740 (c)

Origin

France; Paris

Maker

Le Maire, Jacques

Class

dials; horology

Earliest Date

1720

Latest Date

1740

Inscription Date

Material

metal (brass); glass

Dimensions

breadth 183mm; height 270mm; compass box 46mm

Special Collection

Robert Whipple collection

Provenance

Purchased from N.E. Landau, Neuilly-sur-Marne, France, in 08/1936.

Inscription

‘Jacques Lemaire AParis au genie’ (signed on base plate)

Description Notes

Horizontal plate inclining sun dial, brass, by Jacques Le Maire, French, c. 1740.

Brass; dial plate set on 3 levelling screws. Hour scale IIII-XII-VIII by 1 to 5’ between IX and III by transversal type division to 1’. The broad style has a 46o angle (plumb-bob missing) for conversion to inclining dial; latitude scale marked ‘Echelle des Latitudes’ 34-60o by 2 to 1o. The hour scale marked ‘horizon propre 46. deg. 48 min’. On the face of the dial plate scale ‘hauteurs du Soleil’ corespondantes 1-9 by 1 to 0.5. Dial plate engraved with a list of towns (see file); compass box set on dial plate, 8 point rose, fleur de lis north, needle adjustable for ‘Declinaison’ 0-20o by 5 to 1, ‘Occidentalle’.
Signed on base plate.

Condition: fair (one screw is broken).

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:39843