Accession No

0311

Brief Description

surveyor’s square, English, 17th Century

Origin

Maker

Class

surveying

Earliest Date

1600

Latest Date

1700

Inscription Date

Material

metal (brass)

Dimensions

length 463mm; breadth 199mm; thickness 7mm

Special Collection

Robert Whipple collection

Provenance

Purchased by Robert Stewart Whipple from Gertrude Hamilton (trading as ’Mercator’), Paris, on 20/04/1928.

Inscription

‘P D M F’ (on circumference)

Description Notes

Semicircle graduated [0] - 180 and [180] - 360 numbered by 5˚ subdivided to 1˚. Extended in one quadrant to a pierced square, graduated [0] - 60 numbered by 5 subdivided to 1 and 1 - 12 numbered by 1 along both ‘VMRA RECTA’ and ‘VUMBRA VERSA’. Fixed alidade (sights missing) passing through centre of circle and beginning of degree scale. Second alidade (sights missing) rotates through 180˚. Screw threads for sights numbered 1 to 4. Engraved with entwined serpents, heralidic and floral motifs.

Condition fair; incomplete (sights missing)

References

Events