Anthony Sneewins (1615 - 1681)

Field(s) of interest: Scientific instruments
Gender: male

Born: Rotterdam, ~1615
Died: Delft, >1681

Biography:
Anthony Sneewins was born in Rotterdam. He married Aeltjen van Oostrum in Utrecht on 2 December 1637. From 1642 onwards he lived in Delft, at the Buitenwatersloot, where in 1648 he was recorded as an 'Oorijsermaecker' (maker of cap brooches). Over the years he became a very skilled mathematical and astronomical instrument maker. Anthony was a brother of Henricus Sneewins (Leiden) and Johannes Sneewins (Utrecht) and the father of Willem Sneewins (Delft).

Collections: Museum Boerhaave, Leiden (sector, carpenter's rule, graphometer, compendium, nocturnal and sundials); Universiteits Museum, Utrecht (Astronomical quadrant according to Lansbergen, dated 1645); Scheepvaartmuseum Amsterdam (astronomical compendium, 1670); Maritiem Museum, Rotterdam (nocturlabium 1673); Zuylenburgh planetarium, Oud Zuilen (astronomical compendium, dated 1666); Science Museum, London (Brass planispheric astrolabe with damaged compass mounted on the Kursi by Anthony Sneewins , dated 1650; Star and sundial, dated 1681); Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers (Astrolabium catholicum, 1661).


Occupations:
Instrument maker: ~1642 - ~1681 (Delft)

Sources:
Servaas van Rooijen, A.J. De Navorscher 35 (Amsterdam 1885), 238.

Rooseboom, Maria, Bijdrage tot de geschiedenis der instrumentmakerskunst in de noordelijke Nederlanden. (Leiden 1950).

Wijk, W.E. van 'Antieke draagbare mathematische instrumenten in het Museum voor het Onderwijs te Den Haag' (1942).

Gemeentearchief Leiden, Notarial archive nr. 739 (Notary Vredeburg) no. 100, d.d. 22-06-1658.

Cittert, P.H. van, 'Proportionaalpassers', in: Nederlands Tijdschrift Natuurkunde 13 (1947).

Daumas, Maurice, Scientific instruments of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and their makers. (London 1972).

Dekker, Elly, 'No additions please, we are serious! : a sundial delineator by Anthony Sneewins', in: Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society 34 (1992).

Gibbs, Sharon L. (e.o). A Computerized checklist of astrolabes. (New Haven/London 1973).

Michel, H. Traité de l'astrolabe. (Paris 1947).

Zinner, E. Deutsche und Niederländische astronomische Instrumente des 11.-18. Jahrhunderts. (München 1972).

mentioned in Bonboeken Leiden (~1642)

Database Maritiem Digitaal

Helen Turner (ed), A Measure of Time: 25th Anniversary Trevor Philip & Sons (London: Trevor Philip & Sons, 1997).

Borgesius, A.H., 'Een merkwaardige oude meet- en rekenliniaal' [van A. Sneewins], in: Mededeling uit het Rijksmuseum voor de Geschiedenis van de Natuurwetenschappen 25 (Uit: De Ingenieur 49 (1934) & 53 (1937), p. 484.

Wijburg, W.A., 'Hoevenaer', in: De Nederlandsche Leeuw 90 (1973), p. 16 (noot 2)

Cittert, Pieter Hendrik van, Astrolabes: A Critical Description of the Astrolabes, Noctilabes, and Quadrants in the Care of the Utrecht University Museum (Utrecht, 1954), p. 26.

Christies, auction London, South Kensington, 10 June 1999 (Sundail, dated 1660).