Accession No

0317

Brief Description

universal mechanical equinoctial dial, German, mid-18th C

Origin

Germany

Maker

Class

dials

Earliest Date

1725

Latest Date

1775

Inscription Date

Material

metal (brass)

Dimensions

length 153mm; breadth 91mm; thickness 25mm

Special Collection

Robert Whipple collection

Provenance

Purchased from Gertrude Hamilton (trading as ’Mercator’), Paris, in 09/1928.

Inscription

Description Notes

Brass base plate set on 4 levelling feet and marked with the cardinal points in Latin. Engraved decoration and a list of towns and latitudes. Folding gallows and plumb bob.
Hour circle hinged to folding support with a hinged latitude arc divided [6˚] - [90˚], numbered by 10˚, subdivided to 1˚. Hour circle divided I - XII, I - XII, numbered by I, subdivided to 15 minutes; centre decoratively engraved; circumference cut with teeth meshing into the alidade. Minute dial divided [0] - 60, numbered by 5 minutes, subdivided to 1 minute. Folding gnomon above the alidade, comprising a trigon calibrated by zodiac sign with double pinhole gnomon on the index.

References

Events