Klappsonnenuhr Lot n° 6204

Baroque travel sundial. Two wooden panels connected by hinges, covered with hand-coloured copper engravings, one locking and one setting hook each. In the middle of the lower wooden panel is the compass (d. 2.5 cm) with an 8-part compass rose, the upper wooden panel inside with a vertical sundial with horseshoe-shaped dial 6-12-6, in the middle of the dial the insertion hole for the pile thread, thread inserted at 500, on the upper side the pile height chart for 36 European cities. 8 x 4.8 x 1.5 cm (when closed). Germany, ca. 1790. Folding sundials of this kind, which were carried along on journeys, were mainly made in Nuremberg by the compass makers there, for example by D. Beringer and J. G. u. J. P. Kleininger. They were still in use in Germany until the 19th century. In most cases they were neither dated nor inscribed by the manufacturer, but were occasionally monogrammed.