Live Auction 21043The Collection of Sir Nicholas Goodison - British Art: Innovation and Craftsmanship
JOHN PATRICK, LONDON, CIRCA 1705
Lot 17

JOHN PATRICK, LONDON, CIRCA 1705

A QUEEN ANNE ANGLE BAROMETER

Closed25 May 2022

Estimate

GBP 15,000–25,000

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JOHN PATRICK, LONDON, CIRCA 1705
A QUEEN ANNE ANGLE BAROMETER
Of 'sign-post' form, with spirit thermometer with paper Royal Society scale set on right side, flanking a mirror plate, with moulded borders and seaweed marquetry scrolls, silvered plates with engraved edging, cistern tube, turned walnut cap to end of tube, walnut domed cistern covers, the plates signed 'Made by John Patrick in the Old Baily London'
Walnut, seaweed marquetry, brass and mirror glass
36 1⁄2 in. (92.7 cm.) high; 31in. (78.7 cm.) wide; 3 3⁄4 in. (9.5 cm.) deep

The Property of a Gentleman; Christie's, London, 27 June 1985, lot 95.
with Norman Adams Ltd., circa 1990.
Acquired from Norman Adams Ltd., January 1994.

Specialist note


Sir Nicholas Goodison noted: Patrick appears to have been the first instrument-maker to have specialized in barometers (N. Goodison, English Barometers, Woodbridge, 1977, pp. 46-50 and pp. 197-203).
John Patrick (fl.1686- circa 1720) published a pamphlet 'A New Improvement of the Quicksilver Barometer' (before 1704) accompanied by an advertisement which illustrated a 'sign-post' or diagonal barometer of this type. His barometers, according to the contemporary historian, Charles Leigh, were 'much more exact than any other'. The Duke of Somerset bought one of Patrick's angle barometers together with a pendant barometer in 1701.