floating sundial
Date1850
Inventory Number7921
ClassificationSundial
Subject
Maker
French
?
Place of Origin
Dimensions3.3 × 5.1 × 5.1 cm (1 5/16 × 2 × 2 in.)
Material
DescriptionFloating Magnetic Dial in medium colored wooden case with 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 V to XII to VII with 30 minute subdivisions. The compass rose is divided into 4 points marked Nord, Ost, Sud and West,circular
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. 206); 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.
