Diptych dial. Rectangular boxwood dial consisting of two leaves that fold together when not in use. Leaf Ia gives a depiction of a Chinese man in black with a red mouth and some green shading. Four red Chinese characters beneath read: 'Know the direction and so fix the time'. At the head of leaf Ib are four Chinese characters in red reading: 'Secret of the Sun', underneath which is a table of sunrise and sunset, also giving the directions of sunrise and sunset at different times of the year. Leaf IIa displays the horizontal dial, with a compass set into the centre. The hour scale is numbered in Chinese for every two hours and the scale around the compass is divided into the divisions of the feng-shui (geomantic) compass, named by the 12 animals and the 12 elements.
The compass has a grey metal base, the meridian line is marked and the needle is reddened at its South end. The glass plate is held in place by a black ring. A red string gnomon is attached between the two leaves of the dial. On leaf IIb are eight Chinese characters giving the name of the maker and the place from which he came: 'Xin-An, Xiu-Li, Fang Xiu-Shui'. This is the only Chinese dial in the collection to have an illustration, on the outside of the upper leaf. As in AST0424, the vertical dial is replaced by a table for sunrise and sunset.

For more information regarding this dial please refer to the OUP & NMM catalogue, 'Sundials at Greenwich'.