00:00I'm Rebecca Higgett, I'm Principal Curator of Science at National Museums Scotland.
00:04So this is a sundial, or formally it is a mechanical extending equinoctial ring dial,
00:11so that tells you it's a fancy kind of sundial made by Richard Glynn for the Earl of Islay,
00:16Archibald Campbell. It's a scientific instrument, you can use it to calculate the time,
00:21but it's also a work of art, it's an object of beauty to stand in a nobleman's library.
00:26It's significant because it's an early 18th century scientific instrument, it tells us
00:31about the developing trade in scientific instruments in the 18th century, and it's
00:37beautifully decorated but also very skilfully divided in its scale, so it's a precision
00:42instrument and it's a really wonderful example of the maker Richard Glynn's work. But it's also of
00:48significance to us because of who commissioned it, which was the Earl of Islay, as he was then,
00:52who was and became a very powerful figure in Scotland in the first half of the 18th century,
00:57he had patronage of the crown, so essentially he had great power to wield politically but also
01:03culturally, and so for us he is a person that we want to be able to talk about in our galleries.
01:09The dial's now on display in the Scotland Transformed Gallery at National Museums Scotland.
01:14This acquisition was made possible by the generous donations from the Art Fund,
01:18with a contribution from the Wolfson Foundation, the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the National
01:24Museums of Scotland Charitable Trust, and other generous donors from the UK and the USA.
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