Details
A 16th-Century German ivory diptych dial,
dated ANNO 1566 and signed HIERONIMUS REINMAN NORENBERGE FACIEBAT,
FACE Ia, upper leaf, outer face: universal equinoctial dial in green and red with large sun face at the centre, the corners with decorative motif in green and red (Gouk p.118, fig.105, motif 26), with table of latitudes for eighteen towns (see below) (hook missing).
FACE Ib, upper leaf, inner face: pin gnomon to show the hours of the day, with Italian hours 1-10 and symbols for the houses of the zodiac shown in red, below two further dials numbered 6-12-6 and 5-12-7, the date inscribed in the centre of the leaf, the maker's name inscribed at the base, a scale of latitudes in red up the right-hand side calibrated every 2 and labelled every 10 10-70, holes for string gnomon at 42, 45 and 54, similar decorative motif to FACE Ia, two pins on upper edge.
FACE IIa, lower leaf, inner face: compass bowl labelled with eight winds TRAMON, GRECO, LEVANTE, SIROCHO, OSTRO, LEBECHIO, PONENTE, MASTRO, with blued steel needle and brass cap (replacements), the surrounding hour scale numbered 4-12, 1-8 in red, the upper edge inscribed OCCASVS SEPTENTRIO ORTVS, pin gnomon dial for Italian hours labelled 9-23 in red with second scale labelled faintly 16-8 on the left and 8-16 in red on the right, inscribed HORE AB OCCASV SOLIS, two brass hooks, brass latitude support, hole on front edge for pin gnomon for dial on FACE Ia (pin gnomon missing)
FACE IIb, lower leaf, outer face: blank save small maker's mark in the form of a crown (Gouk p.117, fig.104, mark 9) and a letter R (pin missing) -- 3in. (9.5cm.) long
See Colour Illustration
Literature
GOUK, Penelope The Ivory Sundials of Nuremberg 1500-1700 (Cambridge, 1988)
LLOYD, Steven A. Ivory Diptych Sundials 1570-1750 (Cambridge Massachusetts, 1992)
ZINNER, Ernst Deutsche und Niederlndische Astronomische Instrumente des 11. bis 18. Jahrhunderts (Munich, 1972)
