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Lot Essay
The Whitehurst family clockmaking business was started in Derby by John Whitehurst I (1713-1788), and the business was carried on by his son John Whitehurst (1761-1834) who is recorded as working at 22 Irongate, Derby (N. Goodison, Barometers, London, rev. ed., 1977, pp. 284-5, pl. 193). It is not clear whether this group of barometers, probably dating from the early to mid-1770s, were made by the father or son. The father moved to London in 1776. This barometer is part of a group, differing in only the smallest detail, including:
One sold anonymously (Arthur A. Leidesdorf), Sotheby's London, 27-28 June 1974, lot 158 (the design lacking the pedestal at the bottom of the shaft)
One from the Judge Irwin Untermyer collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (illustrated in Y. Hackenbroch, The Untermyer Collection - Furniture, New York, 1958, pl. 20)
One illustrated in P. Macquoid & R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, rev. ed., London, 1954, vol. I, p. 19, fig. 24.
One from the Henry Hirsch collection is illustrated in M. Harris & Sons, Catalogue and Index, vol. III, n.d. (1928), p. 477.
One, more elaborate, was sold by Walter P. Chrysler, Jr, Parke-Bernet New York, 29-30 April 1960, lot 220.
One in the Gerstenfeld Collection (E. Lennox-Boyd, ed., Masterpieces of English Furniture - The Gerstenfeld Collection, London, 1998, p. 242, cat. no. 99)
The great Derby clockmaker, John Whitehurst I (1713-1788) was a key member of the pioneering Lunar Society and influential friend of Matthew Boulton and Erasmus Darwin (J. Uglow, The Lunar Men, London, 2002)
One sold anonymously (Arthur A. Leidesdorf), Sotheby's London, 27-28 June 1974, lot 158 (the design lacking the pedestal at the bottom of the shaft)
One from the Judge Irwin Untermyer collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (illustrated in Y. Hackenbroch, The Untermyer Collection - Furniture, New York, 1958, pl. 20)
One illustrated in P. Macquoid & R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, rev. ed., London, 1954, vol. I, p. 19, fig. 24.
One from the Henry Hirsch collection is illustrated in M. Harris & Sons, Catalogue and Index, vol. III, n.d. (1928), p. 477.
One, more elaborate, was sold by Walter P. Chrysler, Jr, Parke-Bernet New York, 29-30 April 1960, lot 220.
One in the Gerstenfeld Collection (E. Lennox-Boyd, ed., Masterpieces of English Furniture - The Gerstenfeld Collection, London, 1998, p. 242, cat. no. 99)
The great Derby clockmaker, John Whitehurst I (1713-1788) was a key member of the pioneering Lunar Society and influential friend of Matthew Boulton and Erasmus Darwin (J. Uglow, The Lunar Men, London, 2002)