Scaphe Dial Image – GAUDIUM SUB SOLE . SUNDIALS . MEDIEVAL TO MODERN

This wonderful example of a scaphe dial is one of 3 dials in the Botanical Gardens of Padua. There is also a cube dial and a cylinder dial (separate post). This first-ever public garden* was created in 1545, and the original layout has been preserved. This is not the space for a short wander round, but there’s plenty of interesting material online. It has been an important centre for scientific research since its inception and, unsurprisingly, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

*Pisa’s botanical garden was actually completed a year earlier but disqualified on a technicality that I haven’t pursued.

GSS Category: Scaphe Dial; Botanical Garden Sundial; Europe Dials

All photos: John Renner, with many thanks

Scaphe Dial . Watts Gallery . Compton . Surrey

The WATTS GALLERY in Compton showcases the work of artist G. F. WATTS and his wife MARY WATTS, exemplar of the Arts and Crafts Movement. The enterprise has expanded hugely since I last visited and took photos of the sundials there. The Gallery link above will give all the current information you could wish for. This remarkable scaphe dial had been moved inside to protect it from the elements.

Some years ago, BSS published an article about the dial and its context. It is evident that the dial has been skilfully restored from a slightly forlorn state when the article was written. Possibly the title should be ‘Another Dial Pedestal by Mary Watts surmounted by a small Scaphe Dial from a shop in Chelsea’?