Epact Scientific Instruments of Medieval and Renaissance Europe

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Diptych Dial
Signed by Paul Reinmann
Dated 1599; Nuremberg
Ivory and gilt brass; 95 x 155 x 20 mm

The extensive decoration on this fine instrument includes a vignette of a putto with his left elbow resting on a skull, symbol of death and of the passing of time, and a sand glass on the side, two Roman soldiers holding pennants and some foliage with birds.

The decoration and the many different devices for telling the time suggest that the instrument was an expensive object rather than an everyday commodity.

Museum of the History of Science, Oxford
Inventory number 70405

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