Magnetic compass designed for measuring the sun's amplitude. The compass card is manuscript and hand-coloured. The North point is indicated with a coat of arms, and the East point is also slightly embellished. The card is graduated to 32 points and quadrantally in degrees, 0-90-0-90-0. The needle is a single flat bar type attached to the underside of the card, which also has some pieces of wax stuck to it, presumably to balance up the card when in use. The compass bowl is made of rosewood and is weighted with lead and glazed. It is lavishly decorated internally and has fitted brass open sights and brass gimbals. The outer box has brass handles and removable panels for amplitude and azimuth bearings, and has a coloured glass shade. The card and entire inner surface of bowl is lavishly decorated in blue, red and gold paint on white background.