A RARE ARMAND COMPASS DIAL WITH A BALLOONING SCENE, FRENCH, SECOND HALF 18TH CENTURY

the dial signed Armand A PARIS, with a glazed dome top housing a white enamel compass bearing eight points, and the dial divided 6-12, 1-6, with gnomon and three supporting struts, mounted within a box with ornately decorated exterior, the interior with tortoiseshell inlay and ring, the underside of the lid with a gold-plated medallion finely engraved with a scene of a hot air balloon. 8cm diameter

Jacques Etienne Armand was a skilled sundial maker who apprenticed to Canivet in 1747. His career is recorded as spanning the years 1755-1780, but little is known of his life or the instruments he produced. The Montgolfier Brothers' first balloon flights captured the public imagination in France and were depicted in contemporary prints, which coincided with Armand's career. The presence of the ballooning scene within the box may have been a method of appealing to this emerging market.

Another Armand compass dial can be seen as a fob compass in the collection of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, Object No. AST0336.