Instruments · Astronomical compendium
Astronomical compendium, 1557
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1557
- Historical period
- Renaissance Horology (1400 – 1600)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Astronomical compendium
- Materials / technique
- Copper, gilt and engraved
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- M.167-1938
- Credit line
- Miller Gift
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number M.167-1938), this is an astronomical compendium, dated 1557. The Atlas places it in the Renaissance Horology period (1400 – 1600) of its Instruments collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Copper, gilt and engraved. The record is illustrated with 2 photographs.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Summary — Victoria and Albert Museum
The compendium includes a sundial for four latitudes, a nocturnal dial with chronomatic tables, a compass, tables giving phases of the moon, and a table of latitudes for London, Amsterdam, Oxford, Paris and other cities. Schissler's workshop was famous. He specialised in sundials and compendia and produced instruments for the great Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe.
Physical description — Victoria and Albert Museum
Astronomical compendium of engraved and gilt copper with three hinged rectangular leaves: 1a). Nocturnal dial with chronometric tables b). Tables for converting solar into lunar time and for giving phases of the moon according to age 2a). Sundial for four latitudes b). Table of latitudes for various places (of which a large proportion are English/Scottish) 3a). Sighting compass with pointer. b). Table of conversion of equal into planetary hours. The spandrels formed by the dials and other suitable spaces are engraved with strapwork and floral ornament. The edges of the instrument are inscribed CRISTOPHORUS SCHISSLER ME FECIT AVGVSTE VINDELICORVM ANNO DOMINI 1557. Dark brown leather case, the edges stamped with fleur-de-lys. Fitted with brass hinge and clasp. The needles and glass of the compass are missing. Signed by Christopher Schissler of Germany (Augsburg), dated 1557
Brief description — Victoria and Albert Museum
Sheet copper, gilt and engraved, Augsburg, Germany; dated 1557, made by Christopher Schissler
Inscriptions & marks
CRISTOPHORUS SCHISSLER ME FECIT AVGVSTE VINDELICORVM ANNO DOMINI 1557
Provenance
The compendium includes a sundial for four latitudes, a nocturnal dial with chronomatic tables, a compass, tables giving phases of the moon, and a table of latitudes for London, Amsterdam, Oxford, Paris and other cities. Schissler's workshop was famous. He specialised in sundials and compendia and produced instruments for the great Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe.
Historical context
Renaissance Horology (1400 – 1600)
Spring power makes clocks portable; Nuremberg and Augsburg produce the first watches; the Prague Orloj is built.
Instrument-making flourished in Nuremberg, Augsburg, Louvain and London: ivory diptych dials, astronomical compendia, astrolabes and nocturnals for wealthy patrons, navigators and scholars.
Read the period in the timelineMore instruments from this periodEarlier: Medieval Period
Atlas type guide
Astrolabes, quadrants and astronomical compendia
The planispheric astrolabe is a two-dimensional model of the sky. A pierced rotating star map (the rete) turns over a plate engraved for a particular latitude; by aligning a star or the sun with its observed altitude, the user can read the time of day or night, the time of sunrise and sunset, and solve many other astronomical problems. Developed in the Hellenistic world and refined by astronomers in the Islamic world from the eighth century, it reached Latin Europe through al-Andalus.
Quadrants, compendia, armillary spheres and later orreries belong to the same family of instruments that model the heavens. They were teaching tools, status objects and practical time-finders. Many surviving examples are signed and dated, which makes them important evidence for the history of instrument-making workshops in Baghdad, Isfahan, Lahore, Toledo, Louvain, Nuremberg, London and elsewhere.
What to look for
- The latitudes engraved on the plates — they show which cities the instrument was made for.
- The script and calendar used: Arabic or Persian inscriptions, abjad numerals, Hebrew or Latin text indicate tradition and region.
- The design of the rete: the number of named stars and the style of the star pointers changes by region and period.
- Shadow squares, unequal-hour lines and zodiac scales on the back (dorsum).
- Signatures, dedications and dates, often hidden on the throne (kursi) or the back.
Dating clues
- Signed and dated astrolabes allow precise dating; undated ones are attributed by star positions on the rete, which shift slowly through precession.
- Gothic-style retes with tracery are typical of European instruments of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
- Printed paper astrolabes and planispheres became common from the sixteenth century onward.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
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