This portable sundial is inspired by a Roman dial in the collection of the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford (51358). It can be set to any latitude (i.e. the numbers on the outer ring) and any date (i.e. the months on the inner disc). From the shadow of the gnomon you can read the hour of the day. In common with other Roman and Greek dials it has a ‘temporal’ or ‘unequal’ hour system: an hour is one twelfth of the time between sunrise and sunset.

< 2021 / sterling silver / 6.2 cm diameter >