Polyhedral Sundial

A polyhedral sundial made of turned wood, engraved paper, brass, and a compass, signed by David Béringer (1756–1821), a manufacturer of scientific instruments in Nuremberg.
The cube features several sundials engraved on its various faces, each equipped with its own brass gnomon. The main face, oriented “NORTH,” bears the signature “D. Beringer.” The dials, engraved with Roman numerals, allow the time to be read from different orientations. The base contains a compass designed to align the instrument with magnetic north.
The set is preserved along with a collection of documents, including a sales catalog (“Preis-Courant”) dated 1807, published by Johann Ulrich Béringer Jr. in Nuremberg. This catalog presents the instruments manufactured and sold by the Béringer workshop. The model corresponding to a polyhedral sundial appears there under No. 7, described as “Fünf reguläre Sonnen-Uhren auf einen 6 flachen Körper” (“five sundials on a six-sided body”).
The combined presence of the sundial signed by David Béringer and this commercial documentation from the Béringer workshop, dated 1807, forms a coherent whole that allows us to place the instrument within the production of this family of scientific instrument makers in Nuremberg in the early 19th century.