Courtyard Antiques Brasted nr Sevenoaks, Kent

Description

A rare mahogany Georgian wheel barometer with brass urn and swan neck pediment with an adjustable hygrometer over a detachable silvered thermometer box and the main 12 inch bezel dial is fitted with a lock to enable access for adjustments and the spirit level dial is engraved 'Chas Aiano No132 Holborn London'. c.1790

The cabinet is substantially constructed, inlaid with shell medallions and the whole being strung with boxwood and ebony.

Natalo Aiano was an early pioneer in a wave of Italian émigrés comprising mainly instrument and barometer makers that arrived in England from this region of Italy in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and that came to dominate the English barometer trade.

Natalo’s son Charles Christmas Aiano founded a successful barometer business in the early 1800s and his barometers are still much sought after today.