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Surveying instruments
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The dissemination of the magnetic compass in the late Middle Ages and the demand for increasingly precise maps in the Renaissance drove the development of surveying instruments. Documents as early as the fifteenth century show the use of protractors fitted with magnetic needles for land surveying. These instruments were generally derived from the back of the astrolabe; in the following century, they were called polymeters, surveying magnetic compasses, theodolites, holometers, and graphometers. To this category, we can add the surveyor's square, which was more specifically designed, however, for plotting orthogonal alignments.

In the military sphere, the magnetic compass was also applied in the second half of the sixteenth century to a variety of instruments such as the radio latino, the archimetro, and the altazimuth square. A very popular instrument among seventeenth- and eighteenth-century surveyors was the plane table, which enabled them to simultaneously measure and draw the map of an area.

Objects
Alidade

Alidade

Inv. 3603
Francesco Morelli, Rome, 1788

"Archimetro"

"Archimetro"

Inv. 629
Maker unknown, 17th cent.

Barrois compass

Barrois compass

Inv. 656
Franz Schwartz, Brussels, first half 18th cent.

Box for mining instruments

Box for mining instruments

Inv. 683
Maker unknown, German, 16th cent.

Box of mining instruments

Box of mining instruments

Inv. 2538
Maker unknown, German, 16th cent.

Clinometer

Clinometer

Inv. 148
Maker unknown, Italian, 16th cent.

Folding rule

Folding rule

Inv. 2514
Antonio Bianchini, Italian, 1564

Folding rule

Folding rule

Inv. 2511
Antonio Bianchini, Italian, 16th cent.

Folding square

Folding square

Inv. 3629
F. Rousselot, Paris, 18th cent.

Geometrical square

Geometrical square

Inv. 121
Maker unknown, Italian?, 16th cent.

Gimbaled compass

Gimbaled compass

Inv. 2535
Christoph Schissler [attr.], German, late 16th cent.

Graduated ruler

Graduated ruler

Inv. 638, 3703
Maker unknown, Urbino, 1661

Graphometer

Graphometer

Inv. 151
Maker unknown, 17th cent.

Graphometer

Graphometer

Inv. 3630
"Ring", Berlin, 18th cent.

Graphometer

Graphometer

Inv. 245, 3699
Domenico Lusverg, Rome, 1710

Level

Level

Inv. 701
Domenico Lusverg, Rome, 1710

Magnetic compass

Magnetic compass

Inv. 3182
Maker unknown, German, 16th cent.

Measuring rule

Measuring rule

Inv. 694
Maker unknown, English, 16th cent.

Proportional and surveying compasses

Proportional and surveying compasses

Inv. 2510
Georg Zorn, Augsburg, 1618

Protractor

Protractor

Inv. 3182
David Usslaub, German, 1599

Reel

Reel

Inv. 617
Maker unknown, German, 16th cent.

Surveying compass

Surveying compass

Inv. 1279
Maker unknown, 17th cent.

Surveying compass

Surveying compass

Inv. 2506
Matteo Botti, Giovanbattista Botti, Italian, 17th cent.

Surveying compass

Surveying compass

Inv. 3371
Maker unknown, 17th cent.

Surveying compass

Surveying compass

Inv. 144
Baldassarre Lanci, Florence or Siena, 16th cent.

Surveying compass

Surveying compass

Inv. 1471
Maker unknown, Italian, 17th cent.

Surveying compass

Surveying compass

Inv. 3687
Urbino workshop, 16th cent.

Surveying compass

Surveying compass

Inv. 2527
Humphrey Cole, London, 1575

Surveying compass

Surveying compass

Inv. 1280
Maker unknown, 17th cent.

Surveying compass

Surveying compass

Inv. 2508
Maker unknown, Italian, 17th cent.

Surveying instrument

Surveying instrument

Inv. 152, 3165
Baldassarre Lanci, Italian, 1557

Surveying instrument

Surveying instrument

Inv. 691
Wentzel Jamnitzer, Nuremberg, ca. 1575

Surveying instrument

Surveying instrument

Inv. 643
Christoph Trechsler, German, 1572

Surveying rod

Surveying rod

Inv. 693
Maker unknown, German, 16th cent.

Surveying rods

Surveying rods

Inv. 2536, 2537
Maker unknown, German, 16th cent.

Surveyor's square

Surveyor's square

Inv. 680
Maker unknown, Urbino, 1654

Surveyor's square

Surveyor's square

Inv. 681
Domenico Lusverg, Rome, 1710

Theodolite

Theodolite

Inv. 149
Maker unknown, 17th cent.

Theodolite

Theodolite

Inv. 150
Michael Bumel, Nuremberg, 1625

Theodolite

Theodolite

Inv. 154
Erasmus Habermel, Prague, late 16th cent.

Theodolite

Theodolite

Inv. 2528
Maker unknown, English, late 16th cent.

Theodolite

Theodolite

Inv. 240
Augustine Ryther, English, 1590

Triangulation instrument

Triangulation instrument

Inv. 3164
Baldassarre Lanci [attr.], Florence, 16th cent.

Triangulation instrument

Triangulation instrument

Inv. 668
Paolo Massucci, Lucca, 1604