NICHOLAS BION, CIRCA 1700

Nicholas Bion (1652-1733) was "Ingénieur du Roi pour les instruments de mathématique," and one of the foremost instrument-makers of the period, but his instruments remain uncommon on the market. According to Maurice Dumas's Scientific Instruments of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries and their Makers (London, 1972), "Together with that of Butterfield, the name of Nicholas Bion is most often quoted among contemporary instrument makers; yet despite this, very few examples of Bion's work have been preserved ... He does seem ... to have been a master of his craft with an excellent working technique. His workshop must have been one of the most frequented of his period. While his colleagues tended to specialize in the making of globes, mathematical instruments, sun-dials or mechanical devices, Bion was able to supply all these articles, whatever they might be, of excellent quality."