A scarce French pocket sundial and compass in the Butterfield tradition in a square mahogany case c1850

The silvered sundial plate has three concentric hour rings, marked for latitudes 43°, 46° and 49°, each ring numbered from 4 to 12 to 8 and subdivided to the quarter hour. The brass gnomon, spring-hinged and folding flat, is engraved with foliage, and a latitude scale marked 40 and 50 and running to about 55°. A separate folding engraved brass bird is secured to the dial plate, its beak marking the latitude on the scale along the gnomon’s edge. The dial plate, supported by four curved arms, is set above the flat glass to allow the compass beneath to be read.

The silvered compass is marked with the cardinal and intercardinal points in French, O for Ouest, and a stepped chapter ring is graduated from 0 to 360°. The needle, with blued north end, swings on a central brass pivot. An arrow indicates magnetic north at 22° west, which corresponds to the magnetic declination at Paris in the first half of the 19th century.

The compass and sundial are housed in a square mahogany case with twin brass hinges and a swinging catch. Lid-activated transit lock for compass.

Condition: In good condition, the needle swinging freely and finding north easily. The compass and sundial with signs of ageing to silvering, the gnomon and bird bright and folding crisply. The glass with a few very light marks. The mahogany case sound, light marks commensurate with age and use.

Comments: Michael Butterfield (1635–1724) was an English instrument maker working in Paris. His design of horizontal sundial, with several hour rings for different latitudes and a gnomon adjusted by a bird-shaped index, was widely made in France from about 1670 to about 1790. The classic form has four hour rings, for 43°, 46°, 49° and 52°, and a gnomon reading from 40° to 60°. This example, its maker unknown at this time, has three rings and a shorter latitude scale, covering France from the Mediterranean coast to Paris.

An unusual and collectable sundial from the mid 19th century.