Ivory Compass dial, End 17th C
On application
Compass sundial for latitude 49° North, end 17th Century. The brass dial is set into an ivory box with a screw-on lid. The dialplate consists of a brass ring carrying the hour scale and an arc to support the gnomon at the centre. The brass gnomon is hinged, folds flat when not in use and is shaped and engraved on one side. There is a revolving compass card beneath the dial-plate, made of printed and painted card, displaying 32 points: the cardinal and intermediate points indicated by German initials. A central flower is surmounted by a brass pyramidal pivot and there is a glass plate over all. The latitude for which this dial was made suggests that it may well have been produced in Nuremberg, a centre for the production of ivory sundials.
Diameter 5 cm
