What is this exactly? small iron grid

Someone offering this locally, doesn't know what it is. Some type of magic square?

 

Maybe a sundial of some sort?

 

Looks like a Sagrada Família Magic Square ,probably used chalk to add the numbers.

 

This seller calls it a sundial.

https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.a...cking_id=b81dbd70-ae6d-4ec0-a281-4174589dc349

 

But then what about the twelve roman numerals surrounding the grid?

 

And yet... doesn't know how it works, hence I think they're just being lazy with the description

 

A 4X4 grid, 16 squares...Somehow sundial doesn't quite get it, for me.

 

It appears to be missing a component, something that sits on the two raised lines at bottom. Can't be a sundial. They are positioned on plinths, and point (depending upon where one lives) either north or south.

Debora

 

The Roman numerals correspond to a standard clock face. But I agree with you and others that the sundial explanation seems inadequate. In addition to missing the upright piece that casts the shadow (the "gnomon"), a sundial would typically be laid flat, not propped on a stand.

 

Not all sundials are oriented horizontally: https://www.sundials.info/types

I don't really see how the posted item could function as a sundial, just a surmise.