A ROMAN LIMESTONE SUNDIAL

CIRCA 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN LIMESTONE SUNDIAL
Circa 1st-2nd Century A.D.
The upper portion with one-quarter of a hollow sphere carved out, the curving inner surface with ten hour lines incised at uneven intervals, the center of the sphere with a modern replacement for the metal gnomon which cast the shadow, tapering below the sphere to a rounded belt and flaring out to the flat base
13¼ in. (33.7 cm) high

Lot Essay

Vitruvius, the prolific Roman writer on architecture, devoted an entire chapter in his Ten Books on Architecture to the different types of Roman sundials; see Book IX, chapter VIII.1.
For a Roman limestone dove-tail-type sundial see no. 185, pp. 112-113 in Budde and Nicholls, A Catalogue of the Greek and Roman Sculpture in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

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