An important and rare French Regence barometer c. 1725.
The oak case with urn shaped wooden finials and a canted cistern cover resting with six bun feet on its matching bracket. All with well figured and patinated rosewood veneer and ebony mouldings.
It is provided with a mercury tube, according to Torricelli's invention, and boxwood cistern. The brass register plate is cleverly vertical adjustable at the rear of the barometer, which is a very rare feature. The plate is profusely engraved with a lambrequin and foliate decorations. Its scale is devided in decimally and half decimally Parisian inches (26-28). The top of the scale bearing the signature CLeret ARoüen. There is a brass 'hand set' trend pointer.
Opposite the pressure scale, the following weather conditions are beautifully inscribed:
Tres Sec
Beau fixe
Beau temps
Changeant
Pluie freq'te (frequente)
Pluvieux
Beaucoup de pluie
Tourmente
The maker is recorded to work in Rouen during the early 18th century.
Dimensions H. ? W. ?
Literature:
-Bert Bolle, Barometers in beeld, p. 50-51, fig. 95.
-Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum's Websters signature database.