All
 
|
 
 


A “Wise Measuring Banner” or the Artillery “Chetverogranetz” (Four-Sided Meter Stick): Revisiting the Attribution of “Peter I’s Half-Arshin” from the State Hermitage Collections
 
PIIS020596060023072-1-1
DOI10.31857/S020596060023072-1
Publication type Article
Status Published
Authors
Yevgenia Lupanova 
Affiliation: Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (the Kunstkamera)
Address: St. Petersburg, Universitetskaya nab., 3
Journal nameVoprosy istorii estestvoznaniia i tekhniki
EditionVolume 43 Issue 4
Pages806-820
Abstract

The article offers a substantiated attribution of “Peter I’s half-arshin”, a foursided ruler from the State Hermitage collections (accessory number ТХ-1252). This attribution is grounded in its comparison with similar items from the collections of the Lomonosov Museum (Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of Russian Academy of Sciences, the Kunstkamera), the History of Sciences Museum in Oxford, and the National Museum of American History. Several written historical sources such as the 17th – early 18th century artillery manuals (M. O. Rodigaevskii’s “Statute of Martial, Cannon, and Other Matters”, T. Brink’s “Description of Artillery…”, and “The newest theory and practice of artillery” by E. Braun) and a reputable publication “The Construction and Principle Uses of Mathematical Instruments”) by a French instrument-maker N. Bion also support the proposed attribution. The erroneous initial attribution is explained by the uniqueness of the item that has no equals: neither in the published catalogues of various collections nor in the electronic Russian State Catalogue of Museum Collections. The paper also reviews the basic principles of making and using this instrument and its significance during the period from the second third of the 16th century through the first half of the 19th century. It was mainly intended for military use. The possibility for calculating the cannon shot range and trajectory, the distance-to-target, the shooting power, and the amount of powder necessary for a particular combat task often, to a large extent, determined the level of artillery development. Therefore, the success of the battles depended on such instruments and on the skills of they use.

Keywordsmuseum item as a historical source, mathematics, artillery, measuring and calculating devices, metrology, military art
Received21.02.2022
Publication date12.12.2022
Number of characters18155
Cite  
100 rub.
When subscribing to an article or issue, the user can download PDF, evaluate the publication or contact the author. Need to register.

Number of purchasers: 0, views: 258

Readers community rating: votes 0 

1. Artillery Scale Ruler, https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_40723618.02.2022. 
2. Artillery Scale Ruler, https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_407236. 
3. Bion, N. (1723) The Construction and Principle Uses of Mathematical Instruments. London: J. Senex and W. Taylor.
4. Bogdanov, V. I., Kolotilin, R. A., Malova, T. I., and Iastrebinskii, G. B. (2010) Reforma Petra I: mery dliny na rubezhe XVII−XVIII vv. [Peter Iʼs Reform: Linear Measures on the Cusp of the 17th and 18th Centuries], in: Meshcheriakov, V. V., and Saverkina, I. V. (eds.) Petrovskoe vremia v litsakh − 2010. K 300-letiiu Dvortsa Menshikova (1710−2010): materialy nauchnoi konferentsii [The Faces of the Petrine Times − 2010. In Commemoration of the 300th Anniversary of the Menshikov Palace (1710−2010): Scientific Conference Materials]. Sankt-Peterburg: Izdatelʼstvo Gosudarstvennogo Ermitazha, pp. 79−95.
5. Braun, E. (Braun E.) (1710) Noveyshee osnovanie i praktika artillerii [The Newest Theory and Practice of Artillery]. Moskva: Moskovskii pechatnyi dvor.
6. Brink, T. (1710) Opisanie artillerii v nei zhe sokrashchenno napisasia vse, ezhe k nachinaniiu artilleriiskago vedomstva i osnovaniia eia khotiashchemu u sego dela bytii, vedati podobaet [Description of Artillery…]. Moskva: Moskovskii pechatnyi dvor.
7. Bukhner, I. S. (Buchner, J. S.) (1711) Uchenie i praktika artillerii ili vniatnoe opisanie o nyneshnem vremeni upotrebliaiushcheisia artillerii kupno so inymi novymi i vo praktike osnovannymi maniry ko viashchemu naucheniiu vse predlozheno nadobneishikh chertezhei [The Theory and Practice of Artillery…]. Moskva.
8. Gindikin, S. G. (2006) Rasskazy o fizikakh i matematikakh [The Stories about Physicists and Mathematicians]. Moskva: MTsNMO.
9. Gorokhov, V. M. (2015) Ballistika Nikolo Tartalʼi, tekhnonauka Galileia i nanotekhnonauka: aristotelevskaia fizika skvozʼ veka [Niccolò Tartagliaʼs Ballistics, Galilei’s Technoscience and Nanotechnoscience: Aristotle’s Physics Through Centuries], Filosofiia nauki i tekhniki, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 7−35.
10. Gosudarstvennyi katalog Muzeinogo fonda RF [State Catalogue of Museum Collections of the Russian Federation], https://goskatalog.ru/portal/#/. 
11. Gunner’s Gauge (No. 53100), https://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/geometry/cat4.htm. 
12. Gunner’s Level and Sight (No. 50613), https://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/geometry/cat38.htm. 
13. Katalog materialʼnoi chasti otechestvennoi artillerii [Catalogue of Russian Artillery Hardware] (1961). Leningrad: AIM.
14. Katalogi Artilleriiskogo istoricheskogo muzeia [Catalogues of Artillery Historical Museum] (1959). Leningrad: AIM, vol. 1–2.
15. Kirpichev, L. L. (1887) Artilleriia: lektsii, chitannye v Nikolaevskoi akademii Generalʼnogo shtaba [Artillery: Lections Delivered at the Nicholas General Staff Academy]. Sankt-Peterburg.: Tipografiia-litografiia I. A. Litvinova.
16. Maistrov, L. E. (1968) Pribory i instrumenty istoricheskogo znacheniia [Devices and Instruments of Historical Importance]. Moskva: Nauka.
17. Pamiatniki russkoi kulʼtury pervoi chetverti XVIII veka v sobranii Gosudarstvennogo ordena Lenina Ermitazha. Katalog [Russian Cultural Monuments of the First Quarter of the 18th Century in the State Hermitage Collections. A Catalogue]. Moskva and Leningrad: Sovetskii khudozhnik.
18. Pavlenko, N. G. (1940) Russkaia artilleriia. Ocherki po istorii russkoi artillerii 1389−1812 gg. [Russian Artillery. Essays on History of Russian Artillery]. Moskva: Gosvoenizdat.
19. Rodigaevskii, O. M. (1777) Ustav ratnykh, pushechnykh i drugikh del, kasaiushchikhsia do voinskoi nauki, sostoiashchii v 663 ukazakh ili statʼiakh v gosudarstvovanie tsarei i velikikh kniazei Vasiliia Ioannovicha Shuiskago i Mikhaila Fedorovicha, vseia Russii samoderzhtsev, v 1607 i 1621 godakh [The Statute of Martial, Cannon and Other Matters Related to Military Science, Consisting of 663 Decrees or Articles in the Reign of Tsars and Grand Dukes Vasily Ioannovich Shuisky and Mikhail Fedorovich, the Sole Rulers of All Russia, in 1607 and 1621]. Sankt-Peterburg: Gosudarstvennaia Voennaia kollegiia, vol. 1.
20. Triangulation Instrument (No. 47741), https://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/geometry/cat53.htm. 
21. Triangulation Instrument (No. 54181), https://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/geometry/cat52.htm.

Система Orphus

Loading...
Up