Accession No
0569
Brief Description
Steelyard balance, Italian, late 18th C
Origin
Bologna; Italy
Maker
Class
balances
Earliest Date
1750
Latest Date
1800
Inscription Date
Material
metal (brass, steel); cloth (hessian)
Dimensions
Special Collection
Robert Whipple collection
Provenance
Purchased by Robert Stewart Whipple from Antique Art Galleries, Grafton Street, London, England on 06/12/1929.
Inscription
Description Notes
Steelyard balance, Italian, late 18th C
Turnover type steelyard; steel with brass inlay; beam with diamond cross-section divided 100 - [350] by 100 to 1 on 2 sides and [350] - [1095] by 100 to 1 on 2 sides; 2 steel knife edges for suspension each with ring ber and crook-shaped hook; steel knife edge for load shears to ring ber and hook; bell-shaped turned brass weight with steel hook; flattened profile to facilitate reading the scale. Hooks all with various verification stamps.
Hessian sack suspended from yard.
Condition good; complete.
References
Events
Description
This is a late 18th-century steelyard balance from Bologna. The steel beam is one and a half metres long and has a diamond shaped cross-section, with scales on all four sides. It can be balanced on either of two knife-edges, each with suspension hooks, with a third edge from which the load depends. The moveable weight is made of turned brass and there are decorative brass inlays on the steel.
12/05/2014
Created by: [From ‘Main Gallery Large Objects in the Whipple collection’ booklet] on 12/05/2014
FM:39914
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