The Ilay Glynne dial, which is now on display at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, was described as a “masterpiece” of art and science. Made around 1715, it was used to measure local time from the Sun, providing the most accurate means of setting clocks available. It could be used at any latitude, and its form models the celestial sphere, showing the Sun’s apparent motion around the Earth and is signed by Richard Glynne (1681-1755), a maker of mathematical instruments and a member of the Clockmakers’ Company.
The dial was commissioned by Archibald Campbell, Earl of Ilay and later third Duke of Argyll (1682-1761), the most politically powerful figure in the first half of the 18th Century in Scotland. The duke had control over royal patronage and managed Scottish affairs as well as being a founder and the first governor of the Royal Bank of Scotland, and at one time appeared on all bank notes. Through his patronage, including at universities, he became an important sponsor and promoter of the Scottish Enlightenment.
The dial is of a type first made for figures such as Peter the Great of Russia and Prince George of Denmark, the consort of Queen Anne, suggesting the duke commissioned it as a projection of his reputation as an influential nobleman. It is surmounted with the Ilay coat of arms, with leopard supporters, coronet and motto, in brass and silvered brass. The central plate is decorated with the monogram “AC”, for Archibald Campbell, beneath an earl.