Small Bronze Signal Cannon, Late 18th Century.

Small bronze cannon from signal canon, late 18th century.

A miniature bronze cannon finely engraved with scrollwork and plant motifs, featuring side trunnions and a spherical breech button. This type of cannon was originally mounted on a base equipped with a sundial and an adjustable magnifying glass. At solar noon, the sun’s rays, concentrated by the magnifying glass, ignited the gunpowder placed in the muzzle, causing a detonation used to announce true noon and to set watches and clocks. Invented in the late 18th century, the noon cannon enjoyed great popularity in the gardens of aristocratic and bourgeois estates, where it served both as a scientific instrument and an object of curiosity.