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An Elizabethan gilded pocket sundial by Augustine Ryther.
An Elizabethan gilded pocket sundial by Augustine Ryther.
Dated 1585
Made for Sir George St Paul, a Lincolnshire squire.
This elegant dial, by one of the most famous engravers in London in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, is remarkable in that it is signed and dated by its maker, and bears the name of its owner, Sir George St Paul of Snarford and Carlton in Lincolnshire.
The name ‘*Geo=Seyntpoll’ and an heraldic shield are engraved inside the lid of the dial.
This dial is only the third instrument by Augustine Ryther to have come to light, and it is the earliest. It was dug up by chance on the estate of the father-in-law of its owner.
Major axis 4.8 cm (1 7/8 in)