Epact Scientific Instruments of Medieval and Renaissance Europe

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Diptych Dial
Signed by Hans Troschel
Dated 1582; Nuremberg
Ivory and brass; 55 x 78 x 12 mm

The outer part of the upper leaf of this oval shaped dial has a lunar volvelle (incomplete) with the inscription 'DIES AETATIS LVNA'. The inner part of the upper leaf has a pin gnomon dial (pin missing) for the length of the day (marked in black from 8 to 16) and a string gnomon dial for common hours marked in red from 7 to 12 to 5. At the top is the inscription 'des tags seine lenge' and '15 82 iar'. On the border is 'WEN ICH KAMPAST RECHT SOL WEISEN SO RICHT MICH NICHT NAHET ZVM EISSEN' ('if I, compass, am to point correctly then do not put me near iron') and, below, 'hans dr?schell'. The upper leaf is broken in the tip.

The inner part of the lower leaf has a compass (needle, glass and ring missing) with the abbreviated names of the cardinal points and a string gnomon dial for common hours marked from 4 to 12 to 8 with lines and dots for the half and quarters of hour. Below is a pin gnomon dial (pin missing) with Italian hours marked in red from 11 to 23 and common hours marked in black from VII to XII to V. An inscription reads 'die stund von niberga 15 [?] 82'.

The outer part of the lower leaf is blank except for the maker's mark (a bird).

See P. Gouk, The Ivory Sundials of Nuremberg 1500-1700 (Cambridge, 1988)

Ilaria Meliconi

Museum of the History of Science, Oxford
Inventory number 47472

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