SGS Archive Text (Sample D- Plain text doc)
51
Dial: 51
Name: The Oldest Stained Glass Sundial
Maker: unknown
Date: 1529
Original Location: somewhere in Germany. Reverse engineering of dial face by Gianni Ferrari puts the design location roughly at 44.9° N. which is in the far south of Germany in 1529.
Present Location: Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, 1300 South Lake Shore Dr. Chicago, Illinois 60605 USA
Orientation: declines 13.3 east of south
Size: 27.9 x 27.9 x 0.9 cm.
Adornment: zodiacal signs and the letters: H.V.R.A.J
Mottos: none
Condition: excellent
Comment: For window hanging. The oldest known stained glass sundial in the world.
Photos: Photos ‘a’ and ‘b’ © Adler Planetarium & Museum. Photo ‘c’ was taken by kwasiak and copied from igougo website below. Photo ‘d’ is a map of Germany (1530) from unknown source.
Adler Planetarium Website: Here
Igougo Website: Here
Original Photos: a, b, c, d
141
Dial: 141
Name: The Berlin Dial
Maker: unknown
Date: 1535
Original Location: pane was in Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Applied Art) in Berlin Germany
Present Location: unknown. now missing
Orientation: vertical. declines south-southeast
Size: unknown
Adornment: a time ribbon from 6am to 4 pm. a sun, laurel wreath framing.
Mottos: "Sic Umbra Ducimur Umbra" (Like the shadow, we will be guided by the shadow)
Condition: unknown. Gnomon hole present
Comment: We need more information and better photos of this lost dial. If you find it, please let us know.
Photos: Photo ‘a’ was kindly sent to us in 2008 by Willy Bachmann from Germany. It is a copy from the "Bildarchiv des AK Sonnenuhren in der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Chronometrie e. V. (DGC)". This photo may be an old (1950’s?) reproduction. Photo ‘b’ was photographed from a still frame from the videotape movie by Hans Behrendt called "Historische Glassonnenuhren" 1980. It is probably a copy of photo ‘a’. Other poorer quality photos exist in the German Archive.
Videotape Transcript of Dial 141 only: Here
Willy Bachman’s Email: Here
Original Photos: a, b
55
Dial: 55
Name: The Ambras Castle Dial
Maker: Unknown
Date: 1550
Original Location: 47.2° N; Ambras Castle, Innsbruck Austria. Swabian origin, Germany
Present Location: One report told us that it is now at The Museum for Applied Art in Vienna Austria, but René R.J. Rohr says that it is now in the Museum Fürangewandte Kunst in Wien, Austria. Ref: "Les cadrans solaires" (Histoire, Théorie, Pratique), Editions Oberlin, Strasbourg.1986
Orientation: declines 15°W or 17°W. of south
Size: Diameter: 38 cm
Adornment: angel head and putto with heavens globe, astronomical instruments and small block dial. Fly in chapter ring at 9:45 (legs and body on outside and wings on inside)
Mottos: undetermined
Condition: fair. Gnomon with sphere missing.
Comment: 3 time notations. Day and night lengths 8-16 beneath noon line. Photo is of a German 20th century window hanging reproduction. We are looking for confirmation of this dial's present location and photos of the original dial.
Photos: Photos ‘d’ and ‘e’ are of reproductions.
Vienna Musuems Website: Here
Encyclopedia Website: Here
Behrendt VHS Transcript: Here
Original Photos: a, b, c, d, e
70
Dial: 70
Name: The Rottweil Dial
Maker: Signum MP (Martin Pfender - Rottweil municipal glasser)
Date: 1553
Original Location: In the conference room wall of Rottweil Town Hall, Wurtemberg Germany
Present Location: Original location
Orientation: Southeast wall
Size: 44.5 x 34.5 cm
Adornment: Architectural arch. Figures making music in the pillars. Over arch: apple shooting scene from the theatre play Wilhelm Tell by Friedrich Schiller, angel and lion's head. Below: shining sun over arms with eagle of the imperial town Rottweil with angels blowing trombones.
Mottos: "Die Zeit" (The Time)
Condition: Fair: Pane with lead frames and leaded cracks, Gnomon broken out
Comment: Chapter ring has hour lines 5-12-5 and 1/2 hour divisions. Zodiacal lines only symbolic, parallel to depth direction. Day & night lengths 8-16 beneath meridian line. Hour lines apparently not calculated but applied according to observations during different seasons, because the lines 5-5 are not in line. Visits only on request at the Tourist Information
German Clock Route Website: Here
Behrendt VHS Transcript: Here
Original Photos: a, b, c
142
Dial: 142
Name: The Altshausen Castle Dial
Maker: unknown
Date: 1576
Original Location: pane from castle Friedrichshafen, later the monastery Bebenhausen/ Tubingen. Germany. Lat: 47.7° N.
Present Location: now in the archive of the Castle Altshausen in Saulgau Germany. It’s unknown when it was removed from its original location.
Orientation: vertical. declines south
Size: unknown
Adornment: chapter ring 8am-12-5 pm, below: table with hour and zodiacal lines. Day and night lengths 8-15 and 9-16 beneath the meridian line. shining sun, zodiacal signs, right and upper part missing
Inscription: Isaac...Fiessen, pict: Spire:fec... In the ribbon: MDLXXVI (1576)
Condition: Photo ‘b’ shows that the dial was cracked then re-leaded. We don’t know when this happened.
Comment: We need more information and better photos of this historic and valuable dial. If you find it, please let us know! It would be well worth the effort (and fun!) if somebody would visit the archive of the Castle Altshausen in Saulgau Germany to find out if it still exists and to get us better photos and more information about it.
Photos: Photo ‘a’ was photographed from a still frame from the videotape movie by Hans Behrendt called "Historische Glassonnenuhren" 1980. It shows the dial before it was cracked and re-leaded. It has a gnomon shadow at 10:30 am. Consequently, this photo probably shows the dial in its original location. Photo ‘b’ was kindly sent to us in 2008 by Willy Bachmann from Germany. It is a copy from the "Bildarchiv des AK Sonnenuhren in der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Chronometrie e. V. (DGC)". This photo may be an old (1950's?) reproduction. Other poorer quality photos exist in the German Archive.
Videotape Transcript of Dial 142 only: Here
Altshausen Website: Here
Willy Bachman’s Email: Here
Original Photos: a, b
14
Dial: 14
Name: The Ulm-Rathaus Dial
Maker: Hans Harderbeck
Date: 1560
Original Location: 40° N. Rathaus (City Hall), Ulm Germany
Present Location: original site
Orientation: east wall
Size: 62 x 42.5 cm
Adornment: Lord & Servant
Mottos: The lord will die and equally the servant
Condition: Excellent
Comment: gnomon restored
Behrendt VHS Transcript: Here
Baden-Wuerttemberg Website: Here
Ulm Website: Here
Original Photos: a, b
41
Dial: 41
Name: The Gilling Castle Dial
Maker: Bernhard Dininckoff, member of York School of Glass Painting
Date: 1585
Original Location: The Great Chamber of Gilling Castle, North Yorkshire, England
Present Location: original site
Orientation: undetermined
Size: unknown
Adornment: undetermined
Mottos: undetermined
Condition: good
Comment: Magnificent heraldic window contains the oldest known English painted Glass Sundial. The windows of the room show the geneology and heraldry of the Fairfax family. Signed and dated by Dininckoff. A tiny portrait of him is below sundial.
Photo: © C StJ H D
Article by Geoffrey Lane (6 MB): (2006) Glass Sundial Makers of 17th Century London. "The British Sundial Society Bulletin" Vol. 18(i), March 2006. 40-47
Article by Christopher Daniel (858 KB): (2004) “Sundials” a Shire Book
Article by Christopher Daniel (2 MB): (1987) Shedding a Glorious Light. "Country Life" 181, 72-75
Gilling Castle Website: Here
Original Photo: a
48
Dial: 48
Name: The Norwich Oxford Dial
Maker: unknown
Date: 1648
Original Location: Norwich England
Present Location: Moved to a south window of the Director's office at The Museum of The History of Science, Oxford, Oxfordshire England
Orientation: vertical, declines about 15° East of South
Size: Dial Face is about 140 mm high, original oval panel at Norwich measured 27.5 x 21 cm
Adornment: a sun around gnomon hole. It is odd that when the dial was at Norwich, German words appear in the oval surrounding the dial. We have not been able to translate these words. Behrendt said this: "This black-and-white picture has long posed a riddle. The south-east dial face is surrounded with a compound inscription, possibly taken from a 'Kreisring' [annulus]. The text cannot be deciphered.
Mottos: Dum Spectas Fugio (I fly while you watch)
Condition: fair
Comments: Was a gift to the museum from Dennis King of Norwich, the glazier who installed the window at the Museum in 1956. Gnomon is now missing. Viewing by permission only.
Photos: Photo ‘a’ shows original installation in Norwich. This poor quality photo and some of this information are copied from an article by Hans Behrendt called "Alte Englischen Fenstersonnenhren (II)" 1990. Photo ‘b’ shows current installation at the museum. Photo ‘c’ is from the Hans Behrendt videotape.
Museum of The History of Science, Oxford Website: Here
Original Photos: a, b, c
45
Dial: 45
Name: The Goldfinch Dial
Maker: unknown
Date: unknown, 17th century
Original Location: unknown location in England
Present Location: In south wall stairway window at The Museum of the History of Science, Oxford England.
Orientation: Designed for a window facing about 55° East of North.
Size: 25 x 25 cm
Adornment: goldfinch on perch between 8th and 9th hour lines. The arms (bottom right) were granted to Edward Hayward of the inner temple in 1611.
Mottos: Vesper In Ambiguo Est - Age(N)Dum - Mora Noxia - Cras Nil ("The evening is uncertain - Come now! - Delay is harmful - Tomorrow is nothing")
Condition: cracked
Comment: Gnomon missing.
Article by Christopher Daniel (5 MB): (Apr 1988) Stained Glass Sundials in England and Wales. "Clocks" 10, 30-37
Museum of The History of Science, Oxford Website: Here
Original Photos: a, b
149
Dial: 149
Name: The Barrington Dial
Maker: Baptista Sutton (1600-1667)
Date: 1641
Original Location: Commissioned by a Puritan Essex MP, Sir Thomas Barrington for his leased home on Great Queen Street in London England, near Sutton’s shop. It wound up at Warneford Place in a hamlet called Sevenhampton about 1 mile south of Highworth, Wiltshire England. This was formerly the home of Lord Banbury until it was sold to Ian Fleming (of James Bond fame) in 1960. The window survived in Warneford Place until 1960, and was presumed lost until Jo Clark rediscovered it in May 2007. It’s unknown if the dial was removed before the property was sold to Lord Banbury.
Present Location: Jo Clark confirmed in May 2007 that it is not in the remodeled Warneford Place and found out that it now hangs in a wooden frame on a wall in a new owner’s home in London England. The owner wishes to remain anonymous.
Orientation: Inclination: vertical; Declination: about 41° East of South
Size: Entire Window: 46 x 28.8 cm. (18 x 11.3 in); Dial Only (to outside of surrounding came): 27.8 x 17.3 cm (11 x 6.8 in)
Adornment: Barrington coat of arms and a spider hanging from a single-strand web above a fly. First example of a stained glass sundial that uses Roman numeral "IIII" for 4 o'clock and a cross pattee for noon.
Inscriptions: “1641” at top. John Davis says: “Most interestingly, on the back (outside) of the dial, the number "42" is scratched into the glass near the centre-top, behind the crest on the coat of arms. Is this Sutton's 42nd dial? - the 42nd panel in a larger scheme?”
Condition: John Davis reported in Nov 2007 that it was “generally in good condition but with a number of hairline cracks and some very small losses of paint. There are a total of four gnomon holes: of the lower three, two are now filled.”
Photos: Carmichael scanned Photo 149a from an article by Hans Behrendt called "Alte Englischen Fenstersonnenhren" 1984. Photo 149b was taken by P.S. Spokes in 1945 and Geoffrey Lane used it with the permission of Mrs. A Spokes Symond in his article in the BSS Bulletin (see link below). After being rediscovered, John Davis took photos 149c and 149d in Nov. 2007, and we use them with his permission. All the information here was obtained from Hans Behrendt, Geoffrey Lane, Jo Clark and John Davis.
Comment: According to the Sevenhampton website, Ian Fleming moved into Warneford Place with his wife, Ann, when building on the new Sevenhampton Place was completed three years later. Ann remodeled it, so much so, that Evelyn Waugh commented that “She had changed a mansion into a cottage”. Jo Clark reports that it seems Ian Fleming actually loathed the reconstructed Warneford Place. Ian Fleming died in 1964. This important historical dial was rediscovered thanks to the detective work of Ms. Jo Clark who saw the old photos of the dial in this website and became curious to find it.
Article by Geoffrey Lane (6 MB): (2006) Glass Sundial Makers of 17th Century London. "The British Sundial Society Bulletin" Vol. 18(i), March 2006. 40-47
Videotape Transcript of Dial 149 only: Here
Map of Sevenhampton: Here
Highworth Wiltshire Website: Here
Sevenhampton Website: Here
Jo Clark’s Email: Here
Geoffrey Lane’s Email: Here
John Davis’s Email: Here