18th century
Original in gilded copper
This small-scale gunner's quadrant is part of small instruction models and cannons that allowed future artillery operators to familiarize themselves with this type of material.
The little models appeared, it seems, at the end of the 16th century. They also served as war toys for young princes.
Beginning in the 18th century, they were offered for the birth of princes, promotions of high-level individuals and are essentially decorative, which explains the finesse of the execution, the richness of the ornaments, and precision of the details.
Finally, the cannon suppliers used these small models to promote their production and present their models.
The gunner's quadrant is a graduated instrument that allows for control of firing at a great distance by tilting the line of sight in relation to the axis of the cannon.
