A Very Fine Bronze and Ormolu Barometer Attributed to Claude Galle

Depicting a winged goddess holding palm fronds and standing on a lotus-ringed ormolu base, the wings supporting an ormolu surmounted barometer, the white enamel dial with black lettering and numbering, and topped with an Empire style pineapple. The design was possibly inspired by a drawing by Charles Percier and Pierre-Leonard Fontaine engraved in Recueil de décorations intérieures, 1802, Plate IV. The same winged figure of Victoria, symbolizing the angel of Victory, is used in a pair of Candelabra that were delivered in 1809 to the Grand Trianon at Versailles. It also bears similarity to an ormolu clock by Claude Galle which was presented by his son Gérard-Jean Galle in the 1819 Musée Industriel Exposition in Paris (J. V. Moleon, Descriptions de produits de l'industrie française depuis leur origine jusqu'à celle de 1819 inclusivement, Paris 1824, vol II, pl. 21), as well as a design by Claude Michalon and made by Feuchère in the same exhibition (pl. 27). Provenance John Roland Abbey: Redlynch House Wiltshire By descent to The Countess of Pembroke, Wilton House Wiltshire