Compasses, Dividers, and Knot Ornaments
"All compasses wear out with long use, except those made with a spring"
The left half of the sheet is covered with drawing instruments: dividers and compasses of several designs, some with sprung heads and jointed legs, and studies of their pivoting heads. Below them are interlaced circular medallions and ring-clusters forming knot-like ornaments. The single line of text observes that all compasses in long use wear out except those made with a spring. Faint text and further sketches appear on the facing (right) half of the leaf.
On this page
Compasses that wear out except spring ones
The one note on the sheet states that all compasses of long use wear out, except those that are made with a spring. It reads as a maker's observation on the durability of the drawing instruments sketched beside it.
Sprung dividers and pivoting compass heads
Several dividers and compasses are drawn with elaborate heads: sprung or ringed pivots, jointed legs and fine adjustment. Detail studies isolate the pivoting head and its housing. These illustrate the instrument types named in the note.
Interlaced ring medallions
Below the instruments are circular ornaments built from linked and interlaced rings, arranged as rosette- and knot-like medallions. They are drawn as decorative interlace patterns rather than working mechanisms.