Portable diptych sundial

Charles Bloud

ca. 1666–80 · Ivory, pewter, brass, paper · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Although Charles Bloud was the inventor of this variety of azimuth sundial, several other Dieppe sundial makers, including Gabriel Bloud and Jacques Senecal, are known to have made and signed similar sundials. The principle by which their sundials worked is based on a variation in the magnetic declination of the area around Dieppe which existed for only a short period in the seventeenth century, beginning about 1666.

Artist

Charles Bloud

Date

ca. 1666–80

Medium

Ivory, pewter, brass, paper

Culture

French, Dieppe

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Gift of Mrs. Stephen D. Tucker, 1903