These Photographs show seventeenth-century printed-paper sundials—the detailed engravings include instructions for building the finished products, created in this case by curators at the Sackler Museum. As Jennifer Carling and Jonathan Shaw point out in “Spheres of Knowledge,” from the November-December 2011 issue, sundials would have allowed traveling merchants not only to tell time, but also to convert among the three different time-telling systems of the day as they traveled from one region to another.
Sundials in Early Modern Europe
Photographs of early modern printed-paper sundials
![Image courtesy of Department of Digital Imaging and Visual Resources, Harvard Art Museums © 2011 President and Fellows of Harvard College Georg Brentel the Younger, from <i>Pamphlet describing the construction and function of a conical sundial,</i> Lauingen: Jacob Winter, 1615. Pamphlet with engravings and woodcuts.](/sites/default/files/styles/topic_teaser_mobile_d7/public/img/article/1011/cat71_brentel-conicalsdial_ham_2007.206_sm.jpg?itok=sEUHzYBw)
![Image courtesy of Department of Digital Imaging and Visual Resources, Harvard Art Museums © 2011 President and Fellows of Harvard College Side view of the facsimile made by the Harvard Art Museum](/sites/default/files/styles/topic_teaser_mobile_d7/public/img/article/1011/facsimile_brentelconicalsundial_3_sm.jpg?itok=UCV92DkL)
![Image courtesy of Department of Digital Imaging and Visual Resources, Harvard Art Museums © 2011 President and Fellows of Harvard College View from above of the facsimile made by the Harvard Art Museum](/sites/default/files/styles/topic_teaser_mobile_d7/public/img/article/1011/facsimile_brentelconicalsundial_1_sm.jpg?itok=GlIyv6of)
![Image courtesy of Department of Digital Imaging and Visual Resources, Harvard Art Museums © 2011 President and Fellows of Harvard College Georg Brentel the Younger, from <i>Pamphlet describing the construction and function of a cylindrical sundial,</i> Lauingen: Jacob Winter, 1615. Pamphlet with engravings and woodcuts.](/sites/default/files/styles/topic_teaser_mobile_d7/public/img/article/1011/nd11_page_044_image_0001_0.jpg?itok=gQtSHt_g)
![Image courtesy of Department of Digital Imaging and Visual Resources, Harvard Art Museums © 2011 President and Fellows of Harvard College Facsimile made by the Harvard Art Museum](/sites/default/files/styles/topic_teaser_mobile_d7/public/img/article/1011/nd11_page_044_image_0003_0.jpg?itok=XBfyGNuT)
![Image courtesy of the Museum of the History of Science, University of Oxford A polyhedral sundial of gilt brass, c. 1521–1530, attributed to Nicolaus Kratzer, part of the exhibit <Prints and the Pursuit of Knowledge in Early Modern Europe,</i> now on view at the Sackler Museum](/sites/default/files/styles/topic_teaser_mobile_d7/public/img/article/1011/cat59_kratzer-sundial_mhs_inv54054_sm.jpg?itok=Z9LiT7bU)
You might also like
The Cost of Political Violence
A Harvard discussion on increasing threats and how to stop them
Former Women’s Hockey Coach Sues Harvard
Katey Stone alleges gender bias in handling of abuse allegations that led to her retirement.
Remembering Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan
On a Radcliffe-Harvard memorial to remarkable figures
Most popular
More to explore
Broadway Director from Harvard Adapting Disney
Broadway music director Madeline Benson on art and collaboration
How Political Tension on Campus Creates Risk Aversion
How overheated political attention warps campus life
Harvard Professor on Social Psychology for Understanding War
Two scholars’ extracurricular efforts in the Middle East