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Diptych Dial
Unsigned
circa 1600; Nuremberg
Ivory and brass; 40 x 63 x 9 mm

The outer side of the upper leaf has a lunar volvelle with a moon effigy at the centre.

The inner part of the upper leaf has a pin gnomon dial for Italian hours numbered in red from 14 to 24. Below it is a string gnomon dial for common hours marked from 7 to 12 to 5 with dots and lines for the half and quarter hours. The decoration of a sun effigy is enclosed in eccentric circles at the centre of the dial.

The inner part of the lower leaf has a compass with magnetic deviation indicated, enclosed in a string gnomon dial with common hours numbered from 5 to 12 to 7 with dots and lines for the half and quarter of hours. Below is a pin gnomon dial for Italian hours numbered in red from 11 to 22.

The outer side of the lower leaf is blank except for the maker's mark (a coronet). This mark is similar, but not identical, to those used by members of the Reinmann family. The same mark in the form of a crown was used by some members of the Lesel family in Nuremberg.

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

Ilaria Meliconi

Museum of the History of Science, Oxford
Inventory number 34722

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