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The Gnomon - Sundial

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Bianca
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« Reply #30 on: December 16, 2007, 05:23:53 pm »




"Navicula de Venetiis" - 1524.






                                Ship-shaped sundial, once called "Navicula de Venetiis" - 1524.




Oronce Fine
(Sixteenth century)

Donated by Piero Portaluppi, 1978 
 
 
This is the most prestigious item in the collection donated to the museum by Pier Portaluppi.

Only four examples of this curiously shaped type of sundial are known; among these, this sundial is the better documented, the most perfectly conserved, and the only one in ivory instead of brass.

The function of this object was not only to measure time, but it was also used as an astronomical instrument and to determine latitude.

The shaft is fixed between the two plates that compose the hull in order to guarantee a certain degree of mobility, which in turn allows for the shaft to be positioned according to the season.

The latitude scale is placed on the shaft, and was read by means of a plumb-line attached to the cursor, now missing. The solar hours table is inscribed on the hull, in which the central line (number 6) corresponds to midday. Also on the hull are a shadow-dial and a zodiac scale.

In a horizontal section perpendicular to the shaft, we find the symbols of the zodiac and the date in which the sun enters each of them, as well as the signature of the maker Oronce Fine, also famous for writing a literary work on sundials.

The small silver cursor on the shaft bears on the back the three lilies of the French royal family, and on the front the salamander.

This was the personal stem of Francis I, king of France from 1515 to 1547, and it is therefore likely to indicate a prestigious commission of this extraordinary object from the king himself.

The name 'Navicula de Venetiis' highlights the likeness of this sundial with the shape of a kind of sailing ship characteristic of the Venetian fleet that dominated the Mediterranean in the 16th century. Although this might suggest that this object was created within the area of Venetian dominance, it is known that ship-shaped sundials were used as early as the 13th century.

Its particular and striking appearance is the result of the combination between scientific functionality and a creative character with aesthetic and artistic aims.


http://www.museopoldipezzoli.it/PP_inglese/museo/collezioni/orologi/orologi.htm
« Last Edit: December 16, 2007, 05:39:23 pm by Bianca2001 » Report Spam   Logged

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