Museo Galileo
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Gimbaled compass
    • Setting:
      Room II
    • Maker:
      Christoph Schissler [attr.]
    • Place:
      German
    • Date:
      late 16th cent.
    • Materials:
      gilt brass, wood; case: black leather with gold stamps
    • Dimensions:
      diameter 90 mm, total height 180 mm
    • Inventory:
      2535
    • Gimbaled compass (Inv. 2535)

Gimbaled compass attributed to Christoph Schissler. There is a hook for hanging the instrument from the saddle-bow and a gilt brass counterweight to hold it steady. Rests on a wooden stand and is fitted with a lid carrying an engraved and enameled color geographic map. Housed in a gold-stamped leather box. Brought to Florence from Germany by Prince Mattias de' Medici in the first half of the seventeenth century.