Numbers
Numbers are a simple way to show the extraordinary nature of the dials in scotland.
Total
The Wider Picture - Possible Dutch Influence
The Dutch dials take on great significance to the Scots dials as the close cultural links between the two nations at the time could have led to the dial craze in Scotland.
Does this look familiar? It bears an uncanny resemblance to the lectern type of Scottish dial but predates them. Was this an influence?
It is a stone polyhedron sundial dating from 1578 and is currently in the garden of the Huize van Loon Museum in Amsterdam, Keizersgracht 672.
It has 22 sundials covering it, a considerable number being hollow cylinder dials.
The dial in the garden of Vollenhove Town Hall.
Notice the number of dials hollowed out of the stone in different shapes, sizes and orientations - a key feature of Scottish dials.
The 'In' Thing - Prominent in European Thought
The Scots and the Dutch were by no means isolated in their interest in polyhedral dials. England saw the first polyhedral dials in the British Isles with the knowledge and artisans coming from France and Germany.
The following are interesting polyhedral dials of an early date in England:
St Mary's Church, Elmley Castle, Worcestershire (1545 approx)
Great Fosters, Egham, Surrey (1585-90)
Penshurst Place, Kent (1600s)
A particularly interesting one is that at Upton Manor Farm near Peterborough which is thought to have been made by the King's master mason in about 1627. Stylistically this is not particularly different to those mentioned previously but the Kings to whom Nicholas Stone was mason were James I and Charles I. James I before gaining the throne of England was King of Scotland as James VI. He was the first King of both Kingdoms and so there is the hypothetical potential for closer cultural links.
England
Nicholas Kratzer by Hans Holbein the Younger
Nicholas Kratzer was a German astronomer and scholar who came to England around 1518 and was appointed 'deviser of the King's horologes' for King Henry VIII. It is easy (though not necessarily correct) to dismiss the impact that an astronomer at the court of Henry could have had in Scotland given the political divide that separated the two countries in those troubled reformation years.
Polyhedral sundial attributed to Nicholas Kratzer, c. 1525, made for Thomas Wolsey, whose arms and Cardinal's hat are engraved upon it. The instrument incorporates nine different dials, and is a portable version of the monumental sundials which Kratzer designed. Height including gnomon: 100 mm.
Museum of the History of Science, Oxford
France
Orence Fine was a French mathematician who devised the dial illustrated to the right in 1532. He also devised fortifications for Milan, new forms of maping, the term Terra Australia and many other strange and wonderful things.
Germanic States
Albrecht Durer is another of the famous names of the day to pioneer multiple dials. A good demonstration of how widely spread and cutting edge the knowledge was at the time.
Italian States
Stefano
Buonsignori
1500s
Florence
Wood
Polyhedral sundial with hexagonal and square faces. Each face is painted with a different type of sundial (horizontal -vertical - inclined) complete with gnomon. The top holds a magnetic compass—complete with a glass cover but missing the magnetic needle—to orient the instrument toward the local magnetic meridian. Made by Stefano Buonsignori.
Height 170 mm
Museo di Storia della Scienza
