Accession No
0612
Brief Description
silver semicircular protractor, by Michael Butterfield, French, c. 1700
Origin
France; Paris
Maker
Butterfield, Michael
Class
drawing
Earliest Date
1700
Latest Date
1700
Inscription Date
Material
metal (silver)
Dimensions
Overall diameter (length ) 80mm; breadth 56mm
Special Collection
Robert Whipple collection
Provenance
Purchased from Antique Art Galleries, Grafton Street, London, on 31/05/1930.
Inscription
‘Butterfield. AParis’ (on base)
Description Notes
Silver semicircular protractor, by Butterfield, French, c. 1700.
Graduated [0]-180˚, numbered by 10˚, divided to 1˚, and graduated 180˚-[0], numbered by 10˚. Notch index on bevelled diameter.
Condition: fair.
[NOTE: On 15/04/2015 XRF analysis was conducted on this instrument. Results and analysis are given in the ‘Notes’ field.]
References
Events
Description
The protractor is a drawing instrument, used for measuring and drawing angles. Protractors began to appear in the sixteenth century, often in sets of drawing instruments which also included rulers, scales, dividers, squares and sectors, and were originally used with sea charts. Simple semicircular protractors work by showing how many degrees in an angle when one line of a shape is placed along the base line of the protractor with the point of the angle in the centre.
FM:40219
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