The Private Collection of Theodor Beyer
Hotel Baur Au Lac, Zurich, Nov 16, 2003
LOT 2
Butterfield a Paris, circa 1700. Fine octagonal, horizontal, portable silver sundial with compass in original shagreen fitted box.
CHF 4,000 - 6,000
EUR 2,600 - 3,900 / USD 3,000 - 4,400
Sold: CHF 5,750
Four hour scales for the latitudes 43°, 52°, 47°, 40°, small compass, spring-loaded folding gnomon with bird-shaped index, latitude scale from 40°-60°, small central engraved rosette, back with gilt brass plate engraved with the latitudes of 20 European cities, three silver feet. Signed in the center. Dim. 61 x 51 mm.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: AA |
Very good |
Case: 3-12 |
Good Worn |
Movement: - |
|
Dial: 3 |
Good |
Notes
Butterfield's dials are generally semi-universal horizontal dials, usually octagonal or oval in shape, and bearing three or four different hour scales, each marked for a different latitude. The gnomon's index, which Butterfield designed as a bird, must be set for the proper latitude on the scale. This was a very popular type of dial during a period of about 120 years, from 1670 to approximately 1790. Michael Butterfield (1635-1724).He was an English maker who moved to Paris, probably in 1663 and became one of the most eminent sundial makers of the time. In 1677 he had a shop "Aux Armes d'Angletterre" in the Faubourg Saint-Germain. Among his clients were the King and the Académie Royale des Sciences; his friends included Huygens and Cassini. Butterfield's fame was so widespread that when Peter the Great was in Paris in 1717, he visited his shop. Butterfield invented a number of new instruments, among them the present one, which he described in "Cadran à bousolle portative" in 1701/2.