Lot Essay
Rohde illustrates a drawing of a similar circumferentor signed "P. DANFRIE. F. A ROUEN 1658" (p. 71, Abb. 95), which names five of the winds in the same position as the present example, "MEZO GIORNO" for "OSTRO", "MAESTRO" for "GARBINO", and "LIBECCIO" for "MAESTRO". A scale inside the wind scale is also included, which lists the cardinal and secondary points in French, and the secondary point arrows use a different design. However, the compass cover depicts the same scene as the present example, which, Rohde notes, is based on a print by Etienne Delaune (illustrated as Abb. 96). Delaune (1518/9-83), who worked with Benvenuto Cellini whilst he was in Paris (Benezit, volume 3, p. 459), was a goldsmith, medallist, engraver, and "an employee of the royal mint" in the 1550s (Jacobson, p. 469). As Danfrie was royal die-cutter for coins of the realm (cf. note to lot 50), it is possible that Danfrie became aware of Delaune's work through this connexion, or through the printing and bookselling business that Danfrie was a partner in. Phillippe Danfrie died in 1606, so Rohde suggests that the circumferentor dated "1658" is the work of a successor: but the use by Rohde of a line drawing instead of a photograph (the technique used to illustrate the other instruments in the book) indicates that he may not have seen the instrument described, and that the date in the drawing was mistranscribed, particularly as the third number in the date is obscured, perhaps as the result of a correction. Certainly, stylistically, these circumferentors are far more instruments of the the mid-16th than the mid-17th century - for example the griffons heads are similar to those used on the rete of lot 51, a late 16th/early 17th century French astrolabe. Turner illustrates a simple theodolite signed "P. Danfrie" with a baseplate which bears some similarities to Rohde's circumferentor and the present example. It uses the same sequence of wind names as the present example, with the exception of "LIBECCIO" in place of "GARBINO", and is described as "c. 1600" (p. 206). This piece is held in the Whipple Museum.