Portable Horizontal Sundial and Quibla Indicator
notes: label: Description
content: This round brass horizontal dial is a qibla indicator; that is, it helps the user locate the direction of Mecca. The instrument consists of two pieces joined with a hinge and latched by a hook. The top of the dial (face 1a) contains four concentric circles of Arabic characters. The second circle is divided into thirty-two parts, and the fourth or innermost circle is divided into sixteen sections. The edge of the lid contains thirty-two alternating bands of Arabic characters, possibly various inhiraf and jiha (towns and latitudes/longitudes). (When medieval trigonometers calculated qibla tables, inhiraf represented the angle between Mecca, the mathematician's location, and the equator.) Face 1b contains five concentric circles of Arabic characters. Face 2a holds a degree circle divided into seventy-two sections with each section calibrated into fifths. A decorative square in the interior marks the 4 cardinal points. A hinged blade gnomon and a rotating index rest atop the decorative square. The magnetic Mecca pointer is inside the base underneath the decorative square. Face 2b contains four concentric circles of Arabic characters. The second circle is divided into thirty-two parts, and the fourth or innermost circle is divided into sixteen sections. The edge is marked with decorative Arabic characters. The New York Historical Society lent this dial and several other items to MHT in the 1960s. When NYHS subsequently auctioned the collection in 1975, this was purchased.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Timekeeping
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.322416
label: catalog number
content: 322416
label: accession number
content: 316409
objectType: label: Object Name
content: sundial
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 1.8 cm x 7.8 cm x 8.27 cm; 23/32 in x 3 1/16 in x 3 1/4 in