An 18th-Century German gilt equinoctial compass dial,

Details

An 18th-Century German gilt equinoctial compass dial,
signed on the base And. Vogl, the folding hour ring with incised wax filled numerals III - XII - IX, with spring loaded folding gnomon, folding latitude arc graduated 10° - 80°, the octagonal gilt horizontal plate with engraved and punched decoration, the compass with engraved silvered rose and blued-steel needle with brass cap, the underside engraved Elev. Pol. Augsburg Pam 48 Cracau Prag 50 Leipzig 51, in contemporary case with green silk lining, covered in gilt stamped leather -- 2 1/8in. (5.2cm.) long

See Colour Plate and detail

Literature

Maximilian Bobinger Alt-Augsburger Kompaßmacher (Augsburg, 1966)
Ernst Zinner Deutsche und Niederländische Astronomische Instrumente des 11.-18. Jahrhunderts (Munich, 1972)
Dirk Syndram Wissenschaftliche Instrumente und Sonnenuhren (Munich, 1989)

Lot Essay

Andreas Vogler (fl.1730-1808) was made a bürger of Augsburg in 1766 and, like his brother, Johann Georg Vogler (cf. lot 189), was a maker of octagonal sundials. According to Bobinger he was "den produktivsten unter den späten Augsburger Kompaßmachern". Zinner (p. 571) describes an example signed "And Vogl", and Syndram (p. 179, item 87) describes and illustrates a similar dial signed "And. Vogler".

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