Epact Scientific Instruments of Medieval and Renaissance Europe

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Quadrant
Signed by Joseph Pinam
16th century; Italian
Wood; 102 mm in radius

Single face quadrant inscribed in ink along the sighting edge with a calendar scale reading to five days and the instruction 'LINI RVBEI POST NIGRE ANTE MERIDIEM' (red lines after, black lines before noon) referring to the morning and afternoon lines on the hour diagram which are drawn respectively in black and red ink. The arcs for the equator and the tropics are also drawn in red, being named in black. The morning hours are subdivided to 10 minutes by a scale drawn down the non-sighting side of the instrument; the afternoon hours are not sub-divided. The sighting edge has blocks at each end the upper being drilled through the centre so that a spot of light may fall on a brass point set at the centre of the other. The plumb-line (now missing) was attached to a small brass eye free to swivel around a pin set at the centre. On the back of the instrument a diagram of a 16-point wind-rose is drawn in red and black ink, the main directions being indicated against the red branches by initial letters using the traditional Mediterranean wind names: 'Tramontana', 'Mezzodi', 'Greco', 'Lebeche', 'Levante', 'Ponente', 'Syrocho', 'Maestrale'.

From the collection of instruments bequeathed by Vincenzo Viviani (1622-1703) to the Ospedale Santa Maria Nuova and transferred to the Museo Antichi Strumenti at the end of the 19th century.

Anthony J. Turner

Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza, Firenze
Inventory no. 1306

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