Accession No

0315

Brief Description

pillar dial, French, 16th century

Origin

France

Maker

Class

dials

Earliest Date

1500

Latest Date

1582

Inscription Date

Material

ivory; metal (brass)

Dimensions

height 96mm; maximum diameter 23mm

Special Collection

Robert Whipple collection

Provenance

Purchased from Gertrude Hamilton (trading as ’Mercator’), Paris, on 08/1929.

Inscription

Description Notes

Ivory pillar with turned finial tapped for twine suspension loop. Cylinder hollowed to take brass gnomon when not in use. Calibrated with ‘half phase’ sinusoidal hour lines divided 5 - 12, 1 - 7, numbered by 1; associated scale for solar elevation marked ‘HAVTR’, divided [0] - 65˚, numbered by 10˚; also scale divided [0] - 26, numbered by 2 and marked ‘ECHELL’. Date lines with named months and marked every 10 days; associated zodiac signs shown (1st Aries = 10 March). For latitude 45˚. Contemporary split in ivory neatly repaired with brass pins.

Condition: fair (ivory cracked).

References

Events