{"secondaryobjectnumber":null,"periodterms":[],"creditline":"Princeton University, gift of Sir William Mather, presented in 1907","caption":"After Charles Turnbull, Mather Sun Dial, Based on 1579–83 design; executed ca. 1907. Carved limestone (Portland stone) with gun metal for gnomons (sundial points); 792.5 cm, 30.5 x 151.8 x 151.8 cm (base, bottom, octagonal, w/ inscriptions on four sides). Princeton University, gift of Sir William Mather, presented in 1907 (PP637)","cultureterms":[],"type":"artobject","dimensionsproposed":"","campus_art":true,"terms":[{"id":2054791,"term":"sculpture","aatid":300047090,"termtype":"Classification"}],"geography":[{"displaygeography":null,"code":"Place located","continent":null,"subcontinent":null,"country":null,"region":null,"state":null,"city":null,"county":null,"subregion":null,"locale":null,"locus":null,"river":null,"excavation":null,"geoname":null,"location":{"lat":"40.3486","lon":"-74.6566"}}],"dimensionelements":[{"element":"Overall","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"792.47"},{"element":"base","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"30.47"},{"element":"base","type":"Width","units":"centimeters","dimension":"151.76"},{"element":"base","type":"Depth","units":"centimeters","dimension":"151.76"}],"markings":null,"accessionyear":null,"newaccession":0,"makers":[{"id":15294,"displayname":"Charles Turnbull","displaydate":null,"datebegin":0,"dateend":0,"prefix":"after","suffix":null,"role":"Artist","displaymaker":"after Charles Turnbull","displayorder":1}],"datecomputed":1579,"signed":"Dated and signed on south face: 1581 C.T. [see inscription]","restrictions":"restricted","classification":"Sculpture","packages":[{"packageid":211812,"name":"Campus_Art_Online"}],"catalograisonne":null,"classifications":[{"id":2054791,"classification":"sculpture"}],"exhibitions":[],"cultures":[],"primaryimage":["https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PP637"],"displaytitle":"Mather Sun Dial","displayculture":null,"displaymaker":"after Charles Turnbull","alt_numbers":[],"captionhtml":"After Charles Turnbull, <i>Mather Sun Dial</i>, Based on 1579–83 design; executed ca. 1907. Carved limestone (Portland stone) with gun metal for gnomons (sundial points); 792.5 cm, 30.5 x 151.8 x 151.8 cm (base, bottom, octagonal, w/ inscriptions on four sides). Princeton University, gift of Sir William Mather, presented in 1907 (PP637)","displaydate":"Based on 1579–83 design; executed ca. 1907","medium":"Carved limestone (Portland stone) with gun metal for gnomons (sundial points)","media":[{"id":74566,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PP637_a","isprimary":0,"rank":2,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"restricted","caption":"Bruce White Photography"},{"id":74567,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PP637_b","isprimary":0,"rank":3,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"restricted","caption":"Bruce White Photography"},{"id":74569,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PP637_d","isprimary":0,"rank":5,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"restricted","caption":"Bruce White Photography"},{"id":74570,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PP637_e","isprimary":0,"rank":6,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"restricted","caption":"Bruce White Photography"},{"id":74571,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PP637_f","isprimary":0,"rank":7,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"restricted","caption":"Bruce White Photography"},{"id":84399,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/PP637","isprimary":1,"rank":1,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"restricted","caption":"Bruce White Photography"}],"displayperiod":null,"extended_content":true,"campuscollections":"true","bibliography":[],"nowebuse":"False","periods":[],"department":"European Painting and Sculpture ","attribute_groups":[{"id":2199321,"term":"European Art","termtype":"Collecting Area"},{"id":2199328,"term":"Campus Art","termtype":"Collecting Area"}],"daterange":"A.D. 1500-1600","dateend":1579,"depicted":[],"titles":[{"title":"Mather Sun Dial","titletype":"Primary Title","displayorder":1}],"hasimage":"true","creditlinerepro":"","objectnumber":"PP637","inscribed":"on the cornice above the escutcheons:\r\nNorth: EST REPOSITA JUSTITIÆ CORONA\r\nWest: GRATIA DEI MECUM\r\nSouth: 1581, EST DEO GRATIA\r\nEast: POSUI DEUM ADJUTOREM MEUM\r\n\r\nInscribed on shaft of column with radiating lines, western zodiac symbols, perpetual calendar, and various calendar tables:\r\n\r\nSouth 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)\r\n*[\"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.\"]\r\nWest face: \r\nNorth face: table inscribed in ten columns of 26 lines with the following headings,\r\nANN. DOM. NUM AUR CYCL SOL IND ROM CYCL SOL LITT DON EPACT NUM AUR LITT DOM NUM PASCH\r\n[\"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)]\r\nEast face: moon table [\"table of corrections for finding the time by moonlight\" (Pattenden)]\r\n\r\nIncised 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:\r\n\r\nSouth: (quote from Part III, Canto 2, lines 173-176 of Samuel Butler's long poem \"Hudibras\")\r\nLoyalty is e'er the same\r\n[Whet]her it win or lose the game\r\nTrue as the Dial to the Sun\r\nAlthough it be not shined upon.\r\n\t\tHudibras\r\n\r\nEast: (in semi-italic, center aligned script)\r\nThis 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\r\n(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\r\n\r\nNorth: (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):\r\n[The Passing Shadows which the Sunbeams throw\r\nAthwart the Dial Time's Hastening Footsteps show;\r\nWarned by their Teaching, work e'er day be o'er]\r\nSoon comes the Night, when Man can work no more.\r\n\r\nWest: (no inscription, carving of Princeton coat of arms; see description)\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n","texts":[{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"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.","remarks":"Campus Art Online"},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Provenance","textentryhtml":"Commissioned by Sir William Mather as a gift for Princeton University","remarks":"not vetted"}],"datebegin":1579,"sortnumber":"P       637P","published_date":"2026-04-10 15:40:44.811062","objectid":57262,"dimensions":"h. ca. 792.5 cm. (312 in.)","on_view":true}