floating sundial
Datecirca 1800
Inventory Number7919
ClassificationSundial
Subject
Maker
Stockert
fl. 1750 - 1850
Place of Origin
Dimensions2.8 × 5.5 × 5.5 cm (1 1/8 × 2 3/16 × 2 3/16 in.)
Material
DescriptionFloating Magnetic Dial in medium colored wooden case without cover. Floating magnetic compass card mounted in a turned wooden case with fixed gnomon. The chapter ring is printed on the floating compass card with hours marked from 4 to 12 to 8 with 15 minute subdivisions. The compass rose is divided into 4 points marked North, East, South and West,circular,Compass is marked in English (North, East, South , West) with red and green coloring.
SignedSigned "Stockert" printed on floating dial.
Curatorial RemarksThere are several forms of Stockert signatures e.g. E.C. (Ernst Christoph) Stockert and Stockert a Bavaria. The relationship between these signatures is not known.
FunctionThe local time is indicated by the shadow of a self-orienting gnomon mounted on a magnetic compass card. This design is intended to be used at one specific latitude and magnetic deviation.
ProvenanceHarold Clarence Ernst, MD, Boston, c. 1900-1922 (no. 90); Mrs. Ellen L. Ernst (his widow), Jamaica Plain, MA, 1922; on loan to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1923-1938; gift to Harvard College Observatory, 1938; transfer to CHSI, 1964.
