Over the years I’ve become a fan of the concept of time in all shapes and forms. Last weekend I found this link to one of the most comprehensive on-line listings of antique stained glass sundials. I found myself looking through nearly all of them.
Latin mottos can be found on many as a decorative element. The choice of words is what piqued my curiosity the most. Why were those words chosen? I picked the two sundials in this posting because I enjoyed their Latin motto’s most.
The Goldfinch Dial:
Vesper In Ambiguo Est = The Evening is uncertain
Age(N)Dum = Come Now!
Mora Noxia = Delay is harmful
Cras Nil = Tomorrow is nothing
What I discovered today was that the “New Blaeu” map I recently had printed uses Ovid’s text in the same way that the Nun Appleton sundial uses. They were made around the same time too, but in different countries. Quite cool.
Poma dat Autumnus, Formosa est messibus Aestas, Ver praebet fores, Igne levatur hiems.
Autumn gives fruits, Summer fair with corn appears, Spring bestows flowers, Winter fire cheers.
The seasonal sequence in the image above is Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. Ovid’s prose from “Remedia Amoris / The Cure For Love” puts the four seasons in reverse order.
Related Antique Entries:
- Art-O-Matic opening night
- Of (the Tartars) manners both good and bad (around 400 years ago)
- Then & Now Birds-Eye Views of the Westminster Neighborhood in Washington, DC [1884 & 2005]
- The Yu Ji Tu map [1137] and a map of the distribution of Moslems in China [1922] via Rev. Claude L. Pickens, Jr.'s trip to northwest China [1936]
- ABSOLUT STATEHOOD
- Globe Graffiti - Continued
- Remedia Amoris / The Cure For Love by Ovid
- The National Archives Experience: Digital Vaults, and a correction request
- Hello Cherubs - A New Splash Page Graphic Added
- Antique Stained Glass Sundials
- Happy Nowruz !!
- ordered last week: New Blaeu
- Carte du Télégraphe Optique [dans l'hexagone]
- Oil Wells in Los Angeles 103 years ago [One Slick Overlay]
- The art of Map Fest by Teresa Méndez - The Christian Science Monitor
- Within Sight of the White House [Overlay of Hooker's Division]
- The Dissected Map ...continued
- Découvre Carte Est Mort!
- Tycho Brahe's Armillary Spheres
- Holy See an Armillary Sphere?
- Found Celestial Cartography
- An updated Armillary Sphere
- 1880 Street Railway Map of the City of Washington
- The Astro-Theological Overlays for Google Earth
- An Interactive Astrological Calendar from 1544 for Google Earth
- An Updated Astrological Calendar from 1544 - Eastern Hemisphere
- Socio Ditata Labore - Revisited
- NOVA ET ACCVRATISSIMA TOTIVS TERRARVM ORBIS TABVLA [2007 Remix]
- An Updated Astrological Calendar from 1544 - Western Hemisphere
- Geography & the Humanities Symposium Program Cover
- A New And Accurate Map of the World by John Speed [2007 Remix]
- America as a Cloverleaf
- A New Map of the Terraqueous Globe : according to the the Ancient discoveries and most general Divisions of Geospatial Art
- Society is Enriched by Labor :: Socio Ditata Labore
- The Modern Geographer
Posted One Year Ago: OSCE Finds US Government Violates Human Rights
_
_
These are the most beautiful sundials I have ever seen. The Goldfinch dial is very impressive. The image depicting the different seasons is too good. You have taken us back to that beautiful era. Thanks for sharing these wonderful images.
Comment by Stained Glass — 4/4/2008 @ 12:27 am
Antique stained-glass sundials…
Antique stained-glass sundials…….
Trackback by Particles — 4/5/2008 @ 4:48 pm