Multiple diptych dial, signed TROSCHEL (le vieux), dated 1596 Nuremberg.
Rectangular dial in ivory, steel, brass and glass, signed and dated "HANS TRÖSCHEL NVRMBHRG MDXCVI".
Composed of two hinged ivory plates that fold flat when the dial is not in use.
The gnomon consists of a wire attached between the two inner faces.
The upper face of the cover is engraved with a 16-way compass rose in brown.
The four cardinal points are engraved on either side of the plate.
-The inside of the cover is engraved, in red and green, with a vertical wire-axis dial with a semi-circular hour circle graduated 6-12-6, divided into half-hours by red stars, and running hour lines towards the center decorated with a sun. At the top the signature and date engraved in red and green "HANS TRÖSCHEL NVRMBHRG MDXCVI" (Hans Tröschel, Nuremberg 1596).
-The inside of the base plate is a horizontal dial with an hour scale for latitude of approximately 48°, graduated 4-12-8 in red and green numerals, divided into 30 and 15 minutes.
The compass, set in the center, is marked with the four cardinal points (NORT - OST - SVD - WEST), the magnetic declination indicated by a black line, terminated by a fleur-de-lys, in the North-South direction, at approximately 7° East, and four wind blower heads are engraved.
The arrow-shaped blued steel hand is topped by a brass pivot and a flat glass is held in place by a brass wire.
A horizontal dial with gnomon needle named "POLVS 54 GRA", located in the southern part of the face, indicates the Italian hours by lines numbered IX-XXVIII in red and green numerals, four signs of the zodiac are also engraved. The rest of the face is engraved with two red stars.
-On the underside of the base plate is a lunar dial entitled "AETAS LVNAE & HORAE NOCTTIS *" (of the age of the Moon and the hours of the night) featuring a gilded brass scroll with index and numbered clockwise 1-12 twice, and an “aspectarium” in the center giving information about the position of the planets in relation to each other. All around, two concentric scales are engraved, in brown, on the plate: an hourly scale (internal) numbered clockwise 1-12 twice, and a scale (external) of the age of the Moon divided clockwise numbered 1-29.
Near the hinge, a thrush on a twig is engraved twice, the mark of Hans Tröschel the elder. Bears his mark twice: a thrush on a twig.
References: dials by Hans Tröschel the Elder are in the Harvard Museum, see Lloyd, cat.10, 11, 12 and in the MHS Oxford, see Gouk, cat.12, 13, 28, 29.
Dimensions: length of 7,2 cm x width of 6 cm x height of 1,6 cm.
Nuremberg dated 1596.
Reference : D/D ex Tak
Price and additional photos on request.
Also discover many more sundials and equinoxial rings in the dedicated section of our French website : « Cadrans solaires en ivoire ».
