A RARE FRENCH SILVER MINIATURE COMPASS SUNDIAL AND CASE

The oval silver dial  with engraved Roman chapters from IIII to XII and I to VIII, with 15-minute divisions, centred by a rosette with inset glazed compass with engraved North-South line and blued steel hand, sprung folding gnomon with floral chasing, the underside signed in script Roch Blondeau A Paris, with spring bar over, flanked by a pair of turned feet, the compass underside with stylised leaf engraving; the oval case with purple plush, the outer surface with black skin, silver hinge and two eye hooks

The dial 45.5mm long; 34.4mm wide 

The case 52mm long; 42mm wide; 10mm thick

PROVENANCE:
Sotheby's, London, 16 October, 1972, lot 72.
The Albert Odmark Collection of Important Clocks and Watches, sold Christie's, London, 11 March 2005, lot 249.

Another similar was sold by Beaussant Lefèvre & Associés,  at Chateau de la Chevalerie, Parigné Le Polin, 25 July 2022, lot 550, €8,874.
Another sold Tajan, Paris, 10 October 2018, lot 113, €10,625.

Roch Blondeau, Ingénieur du Roi to Louis XIV, was active 1650-1672.  He was installed in the Ile de la Cite, Paris at Quai du Grand Cours d'Eau, under the sign 'A la boussole'.

Similar sundials are at The Royal Museums, Greenwich, dated 1670, Inventory ref AST 0482 and another at the History of Science Museum, Oxford, Inventory ref 50646.

CONDITION REPORT
In good original condition.