Museo Galileo
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Mathematical compendium
    • Setting:
      Room II
    • Maker:
      Hans Christoph Schissler
    • Place:
      German
    • Date:
      late 16th cent.
    • Materials:
      gilt brass, silver; case: leather with gilt tooling
    • Dimensions:
      198x200x90 mm
    • Inventory:
      2467
    • Mathematical compendium (Inv. 2467)

A fairly complex, multi-purpose instrument. The front compartment contains an astrolabe and a geographic mirror engraved with the name of the maker, Hans Christoph Schissler. The back compartment has a magnetic compass that can be oriented horizontally, with a calendar on the outer side of the compass base. There are also a diopter with a graduated scale for measuring heights and a plumb bob for measuring slopes. All these items fitted into a gold-tooled leather box. Brought to Florence from Germany by Prince Mattias de' Medici in the first half of the seventeenth century.