A GEORGE III WHEEL BAROMETER

Details

WATKINS AND SMITH, AND ATTRIBUTED TO JUSTIN VULLIAMY, LONDON, CIRCA 1765
A GEORGE III WHEEL BAROMETER
The panelled case with brass finials and terminals, hinged doors to access the tube, silvered chapter ring on brass plate with mermaid spandrels, steel hands, the main hand fixed to circle with six-pointed star and a brass tail, the recording hands set manually, movement attributed to Justin Vulliamy, oatbeard hygrometer in upper panel, signed on dial on lunette 'Watkins and Smith London'
Mahogany and brass
39 in. (99 cm.) high; 10 1⁄2 in. (26.7 cm.) wide; 4 1⁄4 in. (10.8 cm.) deep

Provenance

Acquired from Hotspur, London, May 2001.

Literature

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
N. Goodison, 'Clockmakers and Cabinet-makers', Furniture History, Vol. II, 1966, pl. XVI.
N. Goodison, 'A Clockmaker's Barometer', Connoisseur, June 1975, pp. 138-141.
N. Goodison, English Barometers, Woodbridge, 1977, pp. 262-268.
E. Banfield, Barometers, Wheel or Banjo, Trowbridge, 1985, pp. 24-29, figs. 21-23.
N. Goodison, ‘English Barometers’, Masterpieces of English Furniture, The Gerstenfeld Collection, E. Lennox-Boyd (Ed.), London, 1998, pp. 162-169.

Special notice

This lot will be removed to Christie’s Park Royal. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. Our removal and storage of the lot is subject to the terms and conditions of storage which can be found at Christies.com/storage and our fees for storage are set out in the table below - these will apply whether the lot remains with Christie’s or is removed elsewhere. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Christie’s Park Royal. All collections from Christie’s Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s it will be available for collection on any working day 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. Lots are not available for collection at weekends.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Amelia Walker Director, Specialist Head of Private & Iconic Collections

awalker@christies.com +44 20 7389 2085

Lot Essay

Sir Nicholas Goodison noted: This is one of a family of almost identical wheel barometers with bulb cistern at the top of the tube and movement shown in the short arm, and clock-like dials, chapter rings, spandrels and hands. Notable anonymous examples survive at Nostell Priory and Windsor Castle in cases by eminent cabinet-makers. For the attribution to Vulliamy see Goodison, 1977, (op. cit.), pp. 262-8. This is the only barometer of this type so far known which bears the name of a firm of instrument makers. There are differences from the Nostell and Windsor instruments - the chapter ring is wider, the centre of the dial plate is plain and not matted, the spandrels are a different cast.

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