On view
Mather Sun Dial,
Based on 1579–83 design; executed ca. 1907
after Charles Turnbull
PP637
Given to the university in 1907 by Sir William Mather, the Mather sundial is a copy of one erected in 1579 at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Mather gave the sundial as a symbol of the connections between the United States and England and between their institutions of higher learning.
More About This Object
Information
Title
Mather Sun Dial
Dates
Based on 1579–83 design; executed ca. 1907
Maker
after Charles Turnbull
Medium
Carved limestone (Portland stone) with gun metal for gnomons (sundial points)
Dimensions
h. ca. 792.5 cm. (312 in.)
Credit Line
Princeton University, gift of Sir William Mather, presented in 1907
Object Number
PP637
Signatures
Dated and signed on south face: 1581 C.T. [see inscription]
Inscription
on the cornice above the escutcheons:
North: EST REPOSITA JUSTITIÆ CORONA
West: GRATIA DEI MECUM
South: 1581, EST DEO GRATIA
East: POSUI DEUM ADJUTOREM MEUM
Inscribed on shaft of column with radiating lines, western zodiac symbols, perpetual calendar, and various calendar tables:
South face of column, dated and initialed: *1581, C. T. [Charles Turnbull], MDCV [1605]/ dial showing hour and date with perpetual calendar designed to determine the day of the week that any date in any year falls, as well as table "showing the lengths of the years of the planets and of the lunar month" (Pattenden)
*["The first date probably applies to the setting up of the dials, and the second to the tables [perpetual calendar] which are painted on the cylindrical shaft."]
West face:
North face: table inscribed in ten columns of 26 lines with the following headings,
ANN. DOM. NUM AUR CYCL SOL IND ROM CYCL SOL LITT DON EPACT NUM AUR LITT DOM NUM PASCH
["table for calculating the date sof the ecclesiastical feasts, the Oxford Terms, and the Law Terms, fixed and movable...on the old Julian Calendar" (Pattenden)]
East face: moon table ["table of corrections for finding the time by moonlight" (Pattenden)]
Incised inscriptions on the side of the octagonal base (which are unique to Mather Sun Dial and not found on Turnbull Sun Dial), starting with the south going counterclockwise:
South: (quote from Part III, Canto 2, lines 173-176 of Samuel Butler's long poem "Hudibras")
Loyalty is e'er the same
[Whet]her it win or lose the game
True as the Dial to the Sun
Although it be not shined upon.
Hudibras
East: (in semi-italic, center aligned script)
This Reproduction of the Turnbull Sun Dial of/ Corpus Christi College, Oxford/ was presented by/ SIR WILLIAM MATHER L.L. D./ to be a lasting Memorial of the Friendship between the people of the/ Old Country and the New A. D. 1907
(outside of and below recessed area containing above main inscription; at left:) FARM[ER & BRIN]DLEY/ SCULP[TORS] LONDON (and at right:) DOLLOND CO. [the "o" of Co. is a superscript over a dash]/ OPTICIANS LONDON
North: (quote from poem by Rowland Eyles Egerton-Warburton (1804–1891) who had been admitted to Corpus Christi College in 1823 but never attended; except for last line the inscribed text on this face of the base is almost completely illegible):
[The Passing Shadows which the Sunbeams throw
Athwart the Dial Time's Hastening Footsteps show;
Warned by their Teaching, work e'er day be o'er]
Soon comes the Night, when Man can work no more.
West: (no inscription, carving of Princeton coat of arms; see description)
Type
Commissioned by Sir William Mather as a gift for Princeton University
