Existing comment:
Chalice Sundial
before 1590
Anonymous, after Virgil Solis
The inner surface of this cup is inscribed with the hour and solar altitude scales -- a sundial. The user held the chalice parallel to the horizon line and rotated it until the shadow of the metal peg, or gnomon, inside the cup lay in the correct month. The tip of the gnomon's shadow would then indicate the true solar time. Although the telling of time may seem incongruous with drinking games, early modern science integrated forms of play that were not seen to detract from its seriousness. |