An 18th-Century silver Butterfield-type pocket sundial,

Details

An 18th-Century silver Butterfield-type pocket sundial,
signed on the dial Macquart Paris, the octagonal silver base with engraved foliate decoration and three hour scales for latitudes 42°, 45° and 49°, engraved on the underside with the names and latitudes of 26 towns and cities, the compass with engraved rose and blued-steel needle with brass cap, the spring-loaded variable gnomon calibrated from 40°-55° with pointer in the form of a bird -- 3¼in. (8.2cm.) long, in plush-lined, leather-covered case with floral motif in metal pins to lid (some wear to case)

See Illustration

Literature

Maurice Dumas Scientific Instruments of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries and their Makers (London, 1972)
Georges Baptiste (ed) La Mesure du Temps dans les Collections Belges (Brussels, 1984)

Lot Essay

Only one dated instrument by Macquart is known, a graphometer bearing the arms of the Dauphin and dated 1730, at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. He is described by Baptiste as "constructeur parisien de beaux instuments et cadrans solaires".

More from Scientific & Engineering Works of Art, Instruments & Models

View All