A small silver, silver-gilt and rock crystal compass sundial, Central Europe, late 16th century,
the octagonal case in rock crystal with hinged gilt lid with engraved foliate decoration and surmounted by a garnet, opening to silver vertical dial and a horizontal dial calibrated 5-12-7 and with pivoted compass needle mounted below, in original leather case with lid tooled with flower decoration and velvet lined,
the dial 4/5in x 1 1/5in x 1in (2 1/5cm x 2 4/5cm x 2 3/5cm), the case 1 1/5in x 1 1/2in x 1 1/2in (3cm x 4cm x 4cm)
Footnotes:
Provenance:
Tesseract, New York State, 1992.
Private collection.

Dial lacking string gnomon, otherwise in good condition, case with velvet lining worn.