CHARLES ORME, ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH, DATED 1736
Lot 21

CHARLES ORME, ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH, DATED 1736

A GEORGE II ANGLE BAROMETER

Closed25 May 2022

Estimate

GBP 8,000–12,000

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CHARLES ORME, ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH, DATED 1736
A GEORGE II ANGLE BAROMETER
The case of 'sign-post' form, with brass mouldings and line inlay, the silvered plate inlaid with red and black wax extending over 33”, manually adjusted sickle pointer on brass rod above tube, sealed squared cistern, signed 'made by Charles Orme of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire 1736'; together with a late 18th/early 19th century page of 'Observations on the Barometer' signed 'Charles Zappa fecit', in an oak frame
Walnut and brass
37 in. (94 cm.) high; 48 in. (121.9 cm.) wide; 3 1⁄4 in. (8.3 cm.) deep
(2)

Robert Belfitt, J.P. of Sheffield.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 19 July 1988, lot 260.

Specialist note


Sir Nicholas Goodison noted: This is the earliest known of Orme's angle barometers. The Connoisseur (no date) illustration mentions the accompanying 'Observations' and claims that 'the only other barometer known or made by Charles Orme' is at Calke Abbey, which is not so. There are a number of other examples (see Goodison, 1977 (op. cit.), pp. 192-6). The cistern cover has been reconstructed, the design based on another surviving example (see 01.16) and on scrupulous study of the surviving acorn finial, the curve of the brass inlay and the need to accommodate the squared cistern inside.

A barometer of the same case model by Orme, also dated 1736, was sold from the Harbord family collection, Gunton Park, Norfolk, Irelands, 25 September 1980, lot 2043.