ARMILLARY SPHERE
Brass, on a wooden base; mechanical
double movement; Earth globe signed: Francis Watkins; datable to the turn of the 18th/19th centuries. Height, 181/2ins (47cms); diameter 9ins (23cms).

The armillary sphere, which originated in antiquity, has become an icon of science because of its elegant and evocative silhouette. Originally used for making astronomical measurements, it came into its own as an aid to teachers of astronomy in the 18th and 19th centuries.

This mechanical design was the invention of the teacher and author, James Ferguson, and was illustrated in his Lectures on Select Subjects of 1760. It was intended to demonstrate the seasons of the year, and the controls rotate either the whole sphere, to show the apparent motion of the heavens, or the terrestrial globe in the centre, to show the real motion of the Earth. A similar example, made by George Adams and dated 1790, is in the Teylers Museum, Haarlem, The Netherlands, differing only in being mounted on a brass tripod foot rather than a wooden stand.

The Earth globe in the centre of the present armillary is signed by Francis Watkins, one of the great names of London instrument making from the mid-18th century. After 1774, Watkins’ shop was at Charing Cross, and following the death of the first Francis Watkins in 1784, the business remained in the family and at the same address, eventually becoming Watkins & Hill in the mid-19th century. It is likely, given the connection with Ferguson, that the signature is that of the first Francis Watkins, though there were others in the family who later had the same name. Since Watkins had an extensive business, the whole armillary was probably made by him.

 

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QUADRANT
Printed paper on brass, signed: 1658 H. Sutton fecit;
complete with original leather case. Radius, 111/2ins (29cms)

This beautiful and complete instrument is unusual in several respects. A number of paper on wood quadrants by Sutton, dating from the period 1656 to 1665, are known, generally in museum collections. The use of brass for the mounting is far more rare, and has not so far been recorded for a Sutton quadrant. The quadrant is single-sided, not having on the reverse another printed paper quadrant with trigonometrical scales and a perpetual calendar, as is usual with the wooden examples. Here, the perpetual calendar has been included on the single side, together with the latitudes of five stars. This composite single printing makes it likely that the instrument was bespoke, with the side required mounted for rigidity on metal rather than wood, and with a protective case provided. The survival of the case is also a rare occurrence with historic instruments, and its existence has ensured that the quadrant is in mint condition.

Henry Sutton, who died in 1665, was a leading London scientific instrument maker. He is known to have sold the full range of mathematical instruments, and he also advertised and published extensively. At the time this instrument was made, his shop was in Threadneedle Street, behind the Royal Exchange. This quadrant, for which he engraved the copperplate in reverse for printing, reveals his exquisite skill with the burin. Sutton advertised that he made quadrants in brass and wood, and the demand for this important instrument clearly led him to produce the mounted printed paper models, of which this is an unusually interesting and complete example.

This horary quadrant has the altitude circles that are typical of Sutton’s style. As a commentator wrote in 1758, “Mr Sutton’s Quadrants ... are the finest divided Instruments in the World; and the Regularity and Exactness of the vast Number of Circles drawn upon them is highly delightful to behold.” The purpose of the instrument is to tell the time, by making astronomical observations using a plumb-line with a sliding bead.

 

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Grand Tour SOUVENIRS

Fine quality marble models of a Roman column, and temples, 19th century.
Height of central model, 27ins (681/2cms).

English country houses, from the great palaces like Blenheim and Chatsworth to the most modest manor, have one strong theme in common. All will have mementoes of the 18th and 19th-century owners’ travels in Europe, the so-called Grand Tour. No young gentleman could consider himself educated unless he had spent several months, perhaps even years, travelling in leisurely fashion across France to Italy - the ultimate goal - and then back through Switzerland and Germany. Many aristocratic families undertook similar journeys, and spent months in a rented villa or palazzo, enjoying the sun and the inexpensive service, and soaking up the sights.

The English have always loved Italy, and when it was necessary to return to answer the call of running the estate or entering politics, these travellers took back with them treasures to remind them of that wonderful civilization. Sometimes it was pictures, statuary or furniture; very often it was replicas of the graceful structures that abound in Rome, made with consummate skill in Siena marble by Italian craftsmen.

These particularly well-crafted and authentic examples are the type of ornament to grace any home, and are sure to be a topic of admiration and discussion.

 

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THERMOMETER
Signed at the top of the register plate: Dollond London; mahogany case;
mid-19th century. Height, 191/2ins (50cms); width 41/2ins (111/2cms).

This elegant and finely made instrument would grace any entrance hall or study, and is also of considerable historic interest. The mahogany case with a glass cover contains a mercury thermometer in front of a silvered glass register plate, divided into degrees Fahrenheit, from 213 down to -40.

What is of particular interest, however, is the choice of temperatures specified, and what they tell us about the great interest in the nature and effects of heat among scientists in the 18th and 19th centuries. For example, the temperature of the waters at Bath Spa had been analysed and published in a letter to the Royal Society in 1767; the torpid state of hedgehogs and marmots was the subject of an essay published in 1809; the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal gave the temperature of 82 degrees for the ocean under the Equator in 1820. Early and mid-19th century encyclopaedias give very similar lists, enabling this important thermometer to be dated with some certainty to around 1840.

 

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Dissected MODELS
of a tree trunk and a grain of wheat, the latter signed:
DOCTOR AUZOUX PARIS FRANCE; made from wood, paper, and plaster, with detailed labels; late 19th century. Height of tree trunk 141/2ins (37cms); length of grain of wheat 81/2ins (211/2cms).

Dr Louis Thomas Jerôme Auzoux (1797-1880) was a model-maker of genius, who, after qualifying as a doctor in Paris in 1822, devoted himself to creating anatomical models as teaching aids. To make these, he invented a form of plaster that could received the most delicate shaping and marking, but would set when dry to extreme hardness. Auzoux established a thriving model factory in his home town of Saint-Aubin, and extended his scope from anatomy to animal and plant life. Achieving an international reputation, he won gold medals at many exhibitions, including the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. The shop he founded in Paris to sell “Materiel didactique” still existed at the end of the 20th century.

Auzoux models are characterized by their extraordinary detail and close similarity to the original. They are also labelled most carefully, sometimes in script, sometimes with printed notes.

 

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BOOK list

The Gallery Offers an exclusive list of books on historic scientific instruments, some out of print (marked with an asterisk) and therefore difficult to obtain, others hot off the press. Below is a selection of the titles available.

Antique Dental Instruments	by Elizabeth Bennion*	£60.00
Antique Hearing Devices	by Elizabeth Bennion	£50.00
Collecting Microscopes	by G. L’E. Turner*	£50.00
Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers	by G. Clifton	£65.00
The Divided Circle	by J. A. Bennett*	£125.00
Drawing Instruments	by Maya Hambly*	£120.00
Elizabethan Instrument Makers	by Gerard L’E Turner	£79.50
The Geometry of War	by Jim Bennett & Stephen Johnston	£20.00
Globes of the Western World	by Elly Dekker & Peter van der Krogt*	£60.00
Globi Neerlandici	by Peter van der Krogt	£400.00
Globes at Greenwich	by Elly Dekker	£90.00
The Great Age of the Microscope	by G. L’E. Turner	£75.00
Ivory Sundials of Nuremberg	by Penelope Gouk*	£25.00
The Illustrated Longitude	by Dava Sobel & William J. H. Andrewes	£25.00
Marine and Pocket Chronometers	by H. Von Bertele	£100.00
Mathematical Instruments in Antiquity and the Middle Ages	by A. J. Turner	£55.00
Measure of Time		£10.00
Trevor Philip & Sons 25th Anniversary Catalogue Mémoire de Sabliers	by J. Attali	£65.00
Nautical Antiques	by R.W. D. Ball	£35.00
Public and Private Science (George III collection)	by A. Morton & J. Wess*	£125.00
The Quest for Longitude	edited by William J. H. Andrewes	£55.00
R B Bate of the Poultry 1782-1847	by A. McConnell	£10.00
Scientific Instruments 1500-1900	by G. L’E. Turner	£25.00
Sphaera Mundi	by Edward H. Dahl & Jean-Francois Gauvin	£50.00
Vulgar & Mechanic (Scientific instrument making in Ireland)	by J. D. Burnett & A. Morrison-Low	£70.00
Western Astrolabes (Adler Planetarium, Chicago)	by R.& M. Webster	£65.00
Sphaera Mundi	by Edward H. Dahl & Jean-Francois Gauvin	£50.00

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FIFTY ONE THIRTY.

Issue 5.

© Trevor Philip and Sons