Museo Galileo
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Polyhedral dial
    • Setting:
      Room I
    • Maker:
      Stefano Buonsignori
    • Place:
      Florence
    • Date:
      1587
    • Materials:
      wood
    • Dimensions:
      height 195 mm
    • Inventory:
      2456
    • Polyhedral dial (Inv. 2456)
    • Polyhedral dial (Inv. 2456)

Instrument in the shape of a regular dodecahedron, finely decorated with brilliant colors. Some characteristics resemble those of items inv. 2458 and inv. 2459. Each face of the polyhedron is engraved with a different type of sundial (scaphe - vertical - inclined) complete with gnomon. The hollow space on the top was a housing for a magnetic compass (now missing) to orient the instrument toward the local magnetic meridian. One face of the polyhedron also bears the Medici coat of arms. Made by Stefano Buonsignori, as can be deduced from the initials "D.S.F.F.," which stand for "Don Stephanus Florentinus [or Florentiae] Fecit."