Mather Sundial, (sculpture).

Mather Sundial, (sculpture).

Turnbull, Charles, sculptor. (copy after)

Triggs, Inigo, architect.

Brindley & Farmer, fabricator.

Dollond Opticians, contractor.

Mather Sundial, (sculpture).

Dedicated 1907.

Sundial: stone; Base: stone.

Sundial: approx. Diam. 32 in.; Base: approx. Diam. 186 in.

(On cornice of sundial are four inscriptions, including:) 1581 (On south side of shaft of sundial is a table of four columns for finding time by the light of the moon.) (On the shaft next to the moon table is a perpetual calendar giving the dates of all movable and fixed ecclesiastical feasts.) (On the east face of the top step of base is a dedication plaque.) (On the north and south face, inscribed:) The passing shadows which the sunbeams throw/Athwart the Dial, Time's hastening footsteps show;/Warned by their teaching, work ere the day be o'er,/Soon comes the night when man can work no more./Loyalty is e'er the same/Whether it win or lose the game/True as the Dial to the Sun/Although it be not shined upon Hudibras signed Founder's mark appears.

Stone pillar sundial. At the top is a heraldic pelican standing on a globe which rests on a pyramid with four dials. Beneath a cornice there is a cubical stone block with the coat of arms of Corpus Christi College's founder, of its chief benefactor, of the Tudors, and of Oxford University. Each piece of heraldry contains another sundial. A cylindrical shaft is below the stone block; the shaft has a sundial on its south side. The 20-foot column rests on a base of five octagonal steps, the top one of which is raised to form a seat. On the side of the top step is the coat of arms of Princeton University.

Animal -- Bird -- Pelican

Emblem -- Coat of Arms

Literature -- Hudibras

Outdoor Sculpture -- New Jersey -- Princeton

Administered by Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544

Located Princeton University, McCosh Courtyard, Princeton, New Jersey 08544

The sundial is a copy of the Turnbull Sundial at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, England. The Turnbull Sundial was designed by Charles Turnbull and was completed in 1581. This replica was given to Princeton University in 1907 by Sir William Mather who had been awarded an honorary degree by the university. Brindley & Farmer fabricated the replica and Dollond Opticians provided the dial calculations. IAS files contain copy of related article from Princeton Alumni Weekly, June 15, 1981 and copy of related University press release, June 25, 1967.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, New Jersey survey, 1995.

Princeton Alumni Weekly, June 15, 1981, pg. 10-12.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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