TÜHER FAMILY. SECOND QUARTER 17TH CENTURY

Details

A German ivory diptich sundial
Tüher family. Second quarter 17th Century
FACE 1a upper leaf, outer face: numbered 32-point wind rose with surrounding compass directions and pointing finger-shaped brass index, the surround with four wind-blowing faces and typical border decoration, with one of two brass hooks for holding open and compass viewing aperture; FACE 1b upper leaf, inner face: Two vertical pin gnomon dials for Babylonian and Italian hours, three string gnomon holes for latitudes 54°, 48° & 52°, table of altitudes for 21 European cities, floral and foliate decoration; FACE 11a lower leaf, inner face: The compass bowl with blued steel needle and brass cap, the case inscribed with OCCIDENS and ORIENS, S, M, a fleur-de-lys, arrow for magnetic deviation and two maker's marks in the form of a speckled snake, surrounded by three concentric hour scales for the three different latitude settings, with two scaphe dials for Italian and Babylonian hours, each with sun/moon face, with floral and foliate decoration, the side of the leaf with a space for the wind vane (cover missing), the front with two brass hooks; FACE 11b lower leaf, outer face: Brass volvelle with sunface, index and twice XII hours marked, lunar phase aperture, within concentric scales for twice XII hours, 1-29 lunar days and Julian and Gregorian epacts, the surround with four wind-blowing faces, border decoration and four small brass bun feet

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

ALBERT ODMARK NOTES
Purchased from Sotheby's, Findlay Collection sale, December 4th, 1961, lot 86.

The speckled snake mark is noted in Gouk (P) Ivory Sundials of Nuremburg, Cambridge, 1988, p. 117, as being the mark attributed to the Tücher family before 1645.

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