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Clocks and Scientific Instruments

Sundial

Key data

Unsigned, Germany(?), 1572

Brass, gilt, engraved; height 5.6 cm, width 9 cm, depth 9.2 cm

folding gnomon height 4.5 cm, width 9 cm, depth 9.2 cm

compass diameter 1.8 cm

Inv. 1982.564.

Description

The base plate is scalloped on the sides and rests on four feet. It has ornamental engraving in the angles and at the front, on either side of the compass, the date 1572 (15 on the left and 72 on the right). The sundial in the middle is marked for a day of 16 hours (from the fourth to the twelfth and from the first to the eighth). The gnomon, in the shape of a right angled triangle, is mounted on the noon line. When set up, it casts shadows on the dial, and from the lines on which they fall the time can be told. Among the non mechanical clocks of the Museums collection the sundials from the C16 to the C18 occupy an important position. Apart from a few garden sundials they consist mainly of small, portable examples. Of these, 93 sundials, more than half the entire holdings, are from the Sarasin collection, seven from the Nathan Rupp collection and 61 from elsewhere.

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CH-4001 Basel

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Reception: +41 61 205 86 00
historisches.museum(at)bs.ch

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