Date: about 1710
Maker: cabinetwork attributed to André-Charles Boulle (1642–1732)
Materials: pearwood, oak, turtleshell, brass, gilt bronze, enamel, glass and mercury
Measurements: 114 x 29.8 x 12 cm
Inv. no. F15
Within a single pearwood case, Boulle has combined a thermometer and a barometer to measure temperature and atmospheric pressure using mercury. Regardless of its function as a scientific instrument, Boulle spared no effort in lavishly decorating the case and dial.
The case is veneered in turtleshell and inlaid with brass composed of floral motifs and a central fleur-de-lys, which might suggest a royal provenance. On either side of the shaft, gilt-bronze female figures are seated on the shoulders of the dial.
They represent Astronomy, holding a celestial sphere, and Geometry, holding a protractor and an hourglass. Between them is a satyr’s mask crowned by lambrequins, a motif found frequently in Boulle’s work.
Around the dial are enamelled plaques inscribed with the words ‘PLUVIEUX’ (rainy), ‘CHANGEANT’ (changeable) and ‘BEAU TEMPS’ (good weather) to indicate expected weather conditions. The inner dial plate is inscribed with ‘EST’ (east), ‘SUD-EST’ (south-east) and ‘SUD’ (south), which were intended to indicate the direction of the wind.
This concept relied on the assumption that the barometer’s mercury would rise with the northern winds and fall with the southern. Both the inner and outer dials are 19th-century replacements.
On the right side of the dial plate is an inscription that reads ‘BIANCHI’. As it was not uncommon for restorers to inscribe their name on the replacement parts of such instruments, it is possible that ‘BIANCHI’ refers to the Bianqui who was recorded as working in Paris in the rue du Temple between 1850 and 1860.
The invention of the wheel barometer is attributed to the English polymath Robert Hooke (1636–1703) and was thus often referred to in France as a baromètre à la manière d’Angleterre (a barometer in the English manner).
Boulle made several designs combining barometers with clocks, but here has created an instrument that would have offered the owner a full overview of weather conditions with both a barometer and thermometer.
In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, such instruments became increasingly sought after as the fascination with science grew. Merging science and art, instruments like this one would have demonstrated their owner’s intellect and fashionable interest in the laws of the natural world, as well as their discerning taste.
Likely acquired in France by the 4th Marquess of Hertford, the barometer is first recorded in 1865, when it was loaned to the Musée Rétrospectif, a major exhibition of historic objects held at the Palais de l’industrie.