A GEORGE II ANGLE BAROMETER

Sir Nicholas Goodison noted: This is the earliest known of Orme's angle barometers. The Connoisseur (no date) illustration mentions the accompanying 'Observations' and claims that 'the only other barometer known or made by Charles Orme' is at Calke Abbey, which is not so. There are a number of other examples (see Goodison, 1977 (op. cit.), pp. 192-6). The cistern cover has been reconstructed, the design based on another surviving example (see 01.16) and on scrupulous study of the surviving acorn finial, the curve of the brass inlay and the need to accommodate the squared cistern inside.

A barometer of the same case model by Orme, also dated 1736, was sold from the Harbord family collection, Gunton Park, Norfolk, Irelands, 25 September 1980, lot 2043.