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Lot Essay
ANALYSIS OF THE DECORATION AND WORKINGS OF THE BOX
Sir David Brewster records in his two volume 1855 work, The Memoirs of the Life, Writings and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton that this remarkable box was presented by Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) to Lord Paisley, later 7th Earl of Abercorn (1685-1744). He included an engraving of both the cover and base of the box and a detailed analysis of its use, which is summarised here. Sir George Seymour (1797-1880), great-grandson of the 7th Earl of Abercorn, submitted the box to two experts in an attempt to decipher its functions. Whilst envoy extraordinary to the Belgian Court, Sir George wrote to the statistician and astronomer Professor Adolphe Quetelet (1796-1874), whose letter dated 13 October 1840 went some way to unravelling the uses of the box. A more thorough explanation was offered by the astronomer Otto Struve (1819-1905) in a letter of 13 April 1853. Struve must have examined the box when Sir George was envoy to St. Petersburg from 1851 to 1854. The fuller explanation given by Struve was used by Brewster.
Cover: The lid of the box bears at the centre a perpetual calendar, giving days of the week corresponding to each month in the
year, and around the edge an Easter table in the form of nineteen cartouches, each employed for two years starting from 1700 and running on to 1738 in two cycles of nineteen. Each has three lines of numbers or letters. The year sequence begins with 1700 at the top right:
31:29
Mo+
We
The first line gives the date of Easter, which can fall only on or between 22 March and 25 April. The symbol : indicates March, while A denotes April. So in 1700, Easter Day fell on 31 March, and in 1719 it was on 29 March.
The second line is used with the central perpetual calendar, and gives the day of the week. The symbol '+' indicates a leap year. 1700 was a leap year in the Julian Calendar, which was used in England until 1752, but not in the Gregorian Calendar, which was introduced into Catholic countries in 1582. The second line has numbers in nearly every fourth cartouche where the last two digits of the year are shown. It is easy to interpolate because the years are all in their normal numerical sequence.
The third/bottom line gives the Golden Number in every third cartouche, which run from 1 to 19. The sequence begins at the bottom left with the symbol of a cross potent. This position is 1; the position before it is 19, the end of the sequence, which then repeats. The Golden Number is used for calculating the date of the Paschal Moon, which governs the date of Easter. The lunar and solar cycles repeat after the passing of 19 solar years. In some of the cartouches the bottom line has a spill-over of a day from the second line.
The perpetual calendar in the centre of the cover is laid out for the Old Style year, beginning on 25 March. For the purposes of the table March is taken as the first month of the year, April the second, and so on, therefore January is the eleventh and February the twelfth month of the year. The day of the week is shown in the second
line of the cartouches, then the day of the week for each month according to the position of its number (in Roman numerals) above or below the rows of dates. Thus for 1700, 'Mo' signifies Monday, the day of the week on which 4 March falls (look up the column above I), and Monday is 2 September (below VII). All the other days of the week follow naturally in sequence. In the cartouches, the symbol + following a day indicates a leap year, with 29 February the extra day.
Base: The five tables on the base are within the central rectangle, an upper and a lower oval, and two side panels. The central rectangle shows the time of sunset at the start of each month, where the first month of the year in the Old Style, March, is indicated by a Roman I. On each month symbol is a small arrow pointing to the hour scale, which is numbered from 4 (winter) to 8 (summer). Within the upper and lower ovals is the 'equation of time', the difference between solar time, as shown by a sundial, and mean time, shown on a clock or watch. The months are denoted by initial letters: January (I) to July (I) in the upper oval, and August (A) to December (D) in the lower oval. The symbol of the Sun in four positions indicates that the 'equation of time' is zero at that date.
Between the Sun symbols are the dates and their corresponding equations. The upper oval is laid out as follows:
Jan 11th 3⁄4 31st 14 min 46 sec Feb 21st 3⁄4 Mar 8th 1⁄2 21st 1⁄4 April 4th Sun
July 16th 5 min 56 sec
Here the winter maximum difference between a sundial and a clock, 14 minutes 46 seconds, is marked for 31 January. In this region of the table, between a pair of Suns, the clock is faster than the dial.
The spring maximum is on 3 May, when the clock is 4 minutes 14 seconds slower than a dial. All the other dates give fractions for the maximum for that part between a pair of Suns. The bracket over the May figures indicates the region where the clock is slower, and a change from the previous and the subsequent regions. In the lower oval, the bracket is over fractions of a maximum to be found in the other oval, when the clock is faster.
The panel on the right side gives the time of high tide for the days of the full Moon. For example, on the fifteenth day of the Moon, when it is full, the time of high tide at London is 3 o'clock and at Yarmouth and Dover it is 10 30. The left-hand panel is a memorandum for the time and the extent of the light from the Moon around the period when it is full; important when making journeys at night. At the New Moon the Moon it is too near the Sun. It rises and sets during the day and reflects little or no light. Times are taken from either the Sunset or Moon-rise. The instruction 'Round for Sou' means going round the table for the hours and minutes to southing, or when the Moon crosses the southern meridian. 'Back for Shin' means going back to find the length of time the Moon is shining. In effect this doubles the first reading. The increments on the table are in 48 minute units, which is the time of 24 hours divided by the cycle of the Moon, approximately 30 days, which gives exactly 48 minutes per day. The optimum part of the Moon's cycle for travelling at night is roughly between the Moon's 12th and 17th days of its age. The values for the five days are read from the table, so at about the 12th day the Moon will be due south four hours after sunset, and it will shine for eight hours. At about the 17th day it will be due south eight hours after sunset, and will shine for sixteen hours. Times need only be approximate in this table, which does duty for the twelve and a third lunations during the year.
The style of the enamelling and the typographic form of certain numbers and letters, such as the flat-topped number 8, point to a French or Dutch style, which would be consistent with a Huguenot workshop in London. The capital had become a centre of Huguenot silversmiths, clock and instrument makers in the late 17th century, following the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, which repealed the religious and civil liberties previously granted to French Protestants.
LORD PAISLEY
Born James Hamilton, Lord Paisley succeeded to the courtesy title of the Earls of Abercorn in 1701 on his father's accession to the earldom, following the death of his father's second cousin,
Charles Hamilton, 5th Earl of Abercorn. He was greatly interested in scientific matters as demonstrated by his fellowship of the Royal Society. The archives of the Society record a correspondence by Lord Paisley on the observation of a comet that appeared in 1723 and a treatise 'Calculations and Tables relating to the attractive Power of Loadstones' published in 1729, shortly after the death of Newton. Paisley was also co-author of 'A Treatise on Harmony, containing the Chief Rules for Composing in Two, Three and
Four Parts', with the German-English composer and theorist Dr. John Christopher Pepusch (1667-1752), published in 1730. Both Newton and Lord Paisley were Fellows of the Royal Society. It was Newton, as President, who proposed Lord Paisley for election to the Society on 10 November 1715. It is possible that this box was given in celebration of his election. Newton's biographer Sir David Brewster described it as 'one of the most interesting and valuable relics of Sir Isaac'.
SIR ISAAC NEWTON
Newton's unrivalled genius for mathematical speculation was apparent from boyhood. Between 1665 and 1666, following his degree he declared 'I was in the prime of my age for invention, and minded Mathematics and Philosophy more than at any time since'. During this period of great mental activity he began 'to think of gravity extending to the orb of the Moon', but his studies were laid aside and it was nearly twenty years before he was to find agreement between the theory and the facts of his calculations. Between 1684 and 1686, with remarkable speed and concentration, Newton extended his earlier thoughts and completed his 'Principia', published circa 1687.
On 11 January 1672 he was elected to the Royal Society and was admitted as a fellow of the Society in 1675. However, it appears he was in straightened circumstances and worried about his future, and in spite of being excused the weekly payment of 1s, he expressed
a wish to resign. The matter was settled by a patent from the King and his work continued. By the end of 1675 he had produced a 'Discourse about Coulours' to be read at the Royal Society, published in 'Optics' in 1704. It is interesting to note that on the final page of Newton's copy of the second edition of 'Opticks', 1717, where he lists the seven Precepts in his own handwriting, is an heraldic bird almost identical to that which appears on the base of this box. It might be that this was a badge or motif used by Newton.
In 1696, the year of reform in the Mint, Newton accepted the wardenship and what is known to have been 'a nest of idlers and jobbers' was speedily transformed by the strict uprightness of the philosopher. In 1699 he became master of the mint, a member of the council of the Royal Society and a foreign associate of the French Academy. In 1705 he was knighted by Queen Anne on her visit to Cambridge. In 'The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended', published posthumously, Newton indicated a manner
in which astronomy might be used to verify views on chronological points, which were held at that time. These have since been proved, by reference to Babylonian and Egyptian records, to be largely correct. He also produced another chronological work entitled 'Considerations about rectifying the Julian Calendar.' Shortly before his death in 1727, he is recorded as summing up his life: '...like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me' [J. Spence's, Anecdotes, observations, and characters of books and men, London, 1820, p. 54].
Sir David Brewster records in his two volume 1855 work, The Memoirs of the Life, Writings and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton that this remarkable box was presented by Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) to Lord Paisley, later 7th Earl of Abercorn (1685-1744). He included an engraving of both the cover and base of the box and a detailed analysis of its use, which is summarised here. Sir George Seymour (1797-1880), great-grandson of the 7th Earl of Abercorn, submitted the box to two experts in an attempt to decipher its functions. Whilst envoy extraordinary to the Belgian Court, Sir George wrote to the statistician and astronomer Professor Adolphe Quetelet (1796-1874), whose letter dated 13 October 1840 went some way to unravelling the uses of the box. A more thorough explanation was offered by the astronomer Otto Struve (1819-1905) in a letter of 13 April 1853. Struve must have examined the box when Sir George was envoy to St. Petersburg from 1851 to 1854. The fuller explanation given by Struve was used by Brewster.
Cover: The lid of the box bears at the centre a perpetual calendar, giving days of the week corresponding to each month in the
year, and around the edge an Easter table in the form of nineteen cartouches, each employed for two years starting from 1700 and running on to 1738 in two cycles of nineteen. Each has three lines of numbers or letters. The year sequence begins with 1700 at the top right:
31:29
Mo+
We
The first line gives the date of Easter, which can fall only on or between 22 March and 25 April. The symbol : indicates March, while A denotes April. So in 1700, Easter Day fell on 31 March, and in 1719 it was on 29 March.
The second line is used with the central perpetual calendar, and gives the day of the week. The symbol '+' indicates a leap year. 1700 was a leap year in the Julian Calendar, which was used in England until 1752, but not in the Gregorian Calendar, which was introduced into Catholic countries in 1582. The second line has numbers in nearly every fourth cartouche where the last two digits of the year are shown. It is easy to interpolate because the years are all in their normal numerical sequence.
The third/bottom line gives the Golden Number in every third cartouche, which run from 1 to 19. The sequence begins at the bottom left with the symbol of a cross potent. This position is 1; the position before it is 19, the end of the sequence, which then repeats. The Golden Number is used for calculating the date of the Paschal Moon, which governs the date of Easter. The lunar and solar cycles repeat after the passing of 19 solar years. In some of the cartouches the bottom line has a spill-over of a day from the second line.
The perpetual calendar in the centre of the cover is laid out for the Old Style year, beginning on 25 March. For the purposes of the table March is taken as the first month of the year, April the second, and so on, therefore January is the eleventh and February the twelfth month of the year. The day of the week is shown in the second
line of the cartouches, then the day of the week for each month according to the position of its number (in Roman numerals) above or below the rows of dates. Thus for 1700, 'Mo' signifies Monday, the day of the week on which 4 March falls (look up the column above I), and Monday is 2 September (below VII). All the other days of the week follow naturally in sequence. In the cartouches, the symbol + following a day indicates a leap year, with 29 February the extra day.
Base: The five tables on the base are within the central rectangle, an upper and a lower oval, and two side panels. The central rectangle shows the time of sunset at the start of each month, where the first month of the year in the Old Style, March, is indicated by a Roman I. On each month symbol is a small arrow pointing to the hour scale, which is numbered from 4 (winter) to 8 (summer). Within the upper and lower ovals is the 'equation of time', the difference between solar time, as shown by a sundial, and mean time, shown on a clock or watch. The months are denoted by initial letters: January (I) to July (I) in the upper oval, and August (A) to December (D) in the lower oval. The symbol of the Sun in four positions indicates that the 'equation of time' is zero at that date.
Between the Sun symbols are the dates and their corresponding equations. The upper oval is laid out as follows:
Jan 11th 3⁄4 31st 14 min 46 sec Feb 21st 3⁄4 Mar 8th 1⁄2 21st 1⁄4 April 4th Sun
July 16th 5 min 56 sec
Here the winter maximum difference between a sundial and a clock, 14 minutes 46 seconds, is marked for 31 January. In this region of the table, between a pair of Suns, the clock is faster than the dial.
The spring maximum is on 3 May, when the clock is 4 minutes 14 seconds slower than a dial. All the other dates give fractions for the maximum for that part between a pair of Suns. The bracket over the May figures indicates the region where the clock is slower, and a change from the previous and the subsequent regions. In the lower oval, the bracket is over fractions of a maximum to be found in the other oval, when the clock is faster.
The panel on the right side gives the time of high tide for the days of the full Moon. For example, on the fifteenth day of the Moon, when it is full, the time of high tide at London is 3 o'clock and at Yarmouth and Dover it is 10 30. The left-hand panel is a memorandum for the time and the extent of the light from the Moon around the period when it is full; important when making journeys at night. At the New Moon the Moon it is too near the Sun. It rises and sets during the day and reflects little or no light. Times are taken from either the Sunset or Moon-rise. The instruction 'Round for Sou' means going round the table for the hours and minutes to southing, or when the Moon crosses the southern meridian. 'Back for Shin' means going back to find the length of time the Moon is shining. In effect this doubles the first reading. The increments on the table are in 48 minute units, which is the time of 24 hours divided by the cycle of the Moon, approximately 30 days, which gives exactly 48 minutes per day. The optimum part of the Moon's cycle for travelling at night is roughly between the Moon's 12th and 17th days of its age. The values for the five days are read from the table, so at about the 12th day the Moon will be due south four hours after sunset, and it will shine for eight hours. At about the 17th day it will be due south eight hours after sunset, and will shine for sixteen hours. Times need only be approximate in this table, which does duty for the twelve and a third lunations during the year.
The style of the enamelling and the typographic form of certain numbers and letters, such as the flat-topped number 8, point to a French or Dutch style, which would be consistent with a Huguenot workshop in London. The capital had become a centre of Huguenot silversmiths, clock and instrument makers in the late 17th century, following the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, which repealed the religious and civil liberties previously granted to French Protestants.
LORD PAISLEY
Born James Hamilton, Lord Paisley succeeded to the courtesy title of the Earls of Abercorn in 1701 on his father's accession to the earldom, following the death of his father's second cousin,
Charles Hamilton, 5th Earl of Abercorn. He was greatly interested in scientific matters as demonstrated by his fellowship of the Royal Society. The archives of the Society record a correspondence by Lord Paisley on the observation of a comet that appeared in 1723 and a treatise 'Calculations and Tables relating to the attractive Power of Loadstones' published in 1729, shortly after the death of Newton. Paisley was also co-author of 'A Treatise on Harmony, containing the Chief Rules for Composing in Two, Three and
Four Parts', with the German-English composer and theorist Dr. John Christopher Pepusch (1667-1752), published in 1730. Both Newton and Lord Paisley were Fellows of the Royal Society. It was Newton, as President, who proposed Lord Paisley for election to the Society on 10 November 1715. It is possible that this box was given in celebration of his election. Newton's biographer Sir David Brewster described it as 'one of the most interesting and valuable relics of Sir Isaac'.
SIR ISAAC NEWTON
Newton's unrivalled genius for mathematical speculation was apparent from boyhood. Between 1665 and 1666, following his degree he declared 'I was in the prime of my age for invention, and minded Mathematics and Philosophy more than at any time since'. During this period of great mental activity he began 'to think of gravity extending to the orb of the Moon', but his studies were laid aside and it was nearly twenty years before he was to find agreement between the theory and the facts of his calculations. Between 1684 and 1686, with remarkable speed and concentration, Newton extended his earlier thoughts and completed his 'Principia', published circa 1687.
On 11 January 1672 he was elected to the Royal Society and was admitted as a fellow of the Society in 1675. However, it appears he was in straightened circumstances and worried about his future, and in spite of being excused the weekly payment of 1s, he expressed
a wish to resign. The matter was settled by a patent from the King and his work continued. By the end of 1675 he had produced a 'Discourse about Coulours' to be read at the Royal Society, published in 'Optics' in 1704. It is interesting to note that on the final page of Newton's copy of the second edition of 'Opticks', 1717, where he lists the seven Precepts in his own handwriting, is an heraldic bird almost identical to that which appears on the base of this box. It might be that this was a badge or motif used by Newton.
In 1696, the year of reform in the Mint, Newton accepted the wardenship and what is known to have been 'a nest of idlers and jobbers' was speedily transformed by the strict uprightness of the philosopher. In 1699 he became master of the mint, a member of the council of the Royal Society and a foreign associate of the French Academy. In 1705 he was knighted by Queen Anne on her visit to Cambridge. In 'The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended', published posthumously, Newton indicated a manner
in which astronomy might be used to verify views on chronological points, which were held at that time. These have since been proved, by reference to Babylonian and Egyptian records, to be largely correct. He also produced another chronological work entitled 'Considerations about rectifying the Julian Calendar.' Shortly before his death in 1727, he is recorded as summing up his life: '...like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me' [J. Spence's, Anecdotes, observations, and characters of books and men, London, 1820, p. 54].