Accession No

0734

Brief Description

Italian-hour nocturnal, made for Cesare Gambara, who was appointed Bishop of Tortona in 1548, Italian, c. 1585

Origin

Northern Italy

Maker

Class

navigation; dials

Earliest Date

1582

Latest Date

1591

Inscription Date

Material

metal (gilt copper)

Dimensions

width 75mm; length 110mm; height 9mm

Special Collection

Robert Whipple collection

Provenance

Purchased by Robert Stewart Whipple from Gertrude Hamilton (trading as 'Mercator'), Paris, France, in 1933.

Inscription

Description Notes

Italian-hour nocturnal, Italian, c. 1585

Copper or copper alloy, gilded but very worn.
Obverse: date scale divided to initialled month, subdivided to 5 days. Triangular handle is engraved with a shield - double-headed spreadeagle over a crayfish; on either side of the shield are the initials ‘CT’ and above is a bishop’s mitre. This is interpreted as indicating that the instrument was made for or commissioned by Cesare Gambara, appointed Bishop of Tortona in 1548. A rotatable hour disc is set over the calendar disc and divided 1 - 24, numbered by 1 with teeth for each hour; hour disc in form of open 4-spoked wheel; short index on internal circumference turns over calendar scale. Circumpolar star index is in form of centrally pivotted shield (details as before) with a crozier along the length of the arm. Central orifice.

Reverse: handle engraved with crayfish. Sundial for Italian hours with one semicircle for summer months and one for winter months.

fair condition

References

Events