Hi Sara and John,
Thanks for your replies. It's interesting to be able to trace the bird
motif to Butterfield's time. It just leaves me wondering why he chose to
use a bird. Absent any other explanation, I'll assume it was whimsy.
Sara, because the URL you mentioned is a link to your CHSI website,
clicking through reminded me of my visit during the NASS conference a
few years back. I don't specifically remember the Butterfield dials in
your collection, but I think that's maybe because I was so mesmerized by
all the amazing, exquisite ivory diptychs that everything else pales in
my memory. The photos of the Butterfields look pretty good too, though.
John, your comment that English dials tending to use fish or dolphins as
supporters got me wondering if the use of birds is more of a North
American thing, so I did a bit of Googling about that.
There's a bit of a story....
It seems that mass production of cast iron and later cast bronze
horizontal sundials in North America started in the late 19th or early
20th C. Over the subsequent century, there seem to have been at least
two companies that did well and that had gnomon designs featuring birds.
I think this probably explains, in part, why I have encountered so many
dials with this attribute.
One company, the W.J. Loth Stove company of Waynesboro, Virginia, was
set up in 1890. They started out making stoves and cast kitchenware, and
apparently were the original owners of the Hotpoint brand of home
appliances. By the late 1930s they were using the brand name Virginia
Metalcrafters, which later became the company name, for an assortment of
decorative home goods including sundials. They ceased trading in 2006.
The other company is Rome Industries of Peoria, Illinois, founded in
1964 and still operating. Their range of sundials are generally
remarkably similar to the Virginia Metalcrafters line. In fact, one
could be forgiven for thinking that some models are copies of the other
company's products. Compare Virginia Metalcrafters'
https://tinyurl.com/yd6qsqk4 and Rome's https://tinyurl.com/y75dorrk .
If they aren't copies, could it be that both are modeled after the same
earlier design - I wonder.
Both companies seem to have had a small choice of dial faces, mottos
(basically the same wordings available from both companies), and gnomons
(including the bird device) so my guess is that customers could mix and
match. Both have winged hourglasses as dial furniture (referring to
"time flies"). At least Virginia Metalcrafters had wedges at the bottom
of the gnomon, which I guess allowed for milling to the appropriate
angle - in which case I imagine that each of the the stock dial faces
would have needed a few latitude variants too. By around 1950 Virginia
Metalcrafters had some kind of arrangement with the US National Parks
Service to make reproduction dials for US National Historic Sites. After
closing down, their factory was designated as a Historic District.
Long story short, because of these two companies, there are quite a lot
of sundials dotted around North America, including some at much-visited
National Historic Sites, with bird gnomons. There are even several on
eBay at the present time.
None of this explains why they chose birds, though.
But one more thing: after looking at a few photos today, I got to
wondering if the bird isn't /always/ a bird. For example the one at
https://tinyurl.com/ychwhnz4 looks more like a phoenix or griffin to me.
More googling, and I learned that the phoenix has sometimes been
associated with or used to represent the sun, also time.
Cheers,
Steve
On 2018-10-30 12:09 p.m., Schechner, Sara wrote:
Hi Steve,
You may know about the fabulously popular, fashionable Paris accessory from
circa 1675 to the end of the 18th century: The Butterfield-type dial. The
pocket dial had a gnomon with an adjustable angle for use at different
latitudes. A sweet little bird's beak was the index on the latitude scale.
See here for examples: http://waywiser.rc.fas.harvard.edu/search/butterfield
Invented by Michael Butterfield, they were made by many different makers in
Paris. They were so desirable that counterfeits were made signed Butterfield.
Sara
and
On 2018-10-30 11:34 a.m., John Davis wrote:
Hi Steve,
The obvious early source for bird gnomons is the Butterfield style of
portable dials.
In England, the most common animal supporter is a dolphin or stylised
fish.
Regards,
John
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