General
General
Object Auto ID
60149
Alternate Codes
objectautoid_sahrisv1_33412
88/563
L82/3
Common Name
Barometer plates
Classified Name
Barometer plates
Local Name
Barometer plates
Quantity
2.00
Object Description

Two brass engraved scale and register plates (for summer and winter) from a portable mercury barometer which belonged to Robert Jacob Gordon. Gordon was the Captain of the Dutch garrison at the Cape of Good Hope. He was also an outstanding scientific figure at the Cape in the late 18th century and the author of an important treatise on Cape meteorology.

Provenance

Since 1982 on loan from the Cape Archives to the South African Cultural History Museum (SACHM). Transferred to the SACHM in 1990 as part of its permanent collection. Today forming part of the Social History Collections of Iziko Museums of South Africa.

Owner
Iziko Museums of South Africa - Social History Collections
Description
Material Types
Brass
Technique Types
Other
Colours
Brass
Distinguishing Features

Two small rectangular brass plates, each plate with a hole at the top and bottom.

Inscriptions
One plate is inscribed WINTER OBSERVATIE (for observation of the winter climate in Cape Town) and the other SOMER OBSERVATIE (for observation of the summer climate in Cape Town). The summer observation plate is inscribed with the date 1785 and the winter observation plate is inscribed RJ Gordon, for Robert Jacob Gordon.
Measurement Type Unit Value
Width
mm
80.00
Height
mm
123.00
Dimension Comments
Two small rectangular plates of similar size.
History
Object Age
1785
Object Age Comment
Colonial period/2nd half 18th century
Maker Comment
Unknown maker
Production Place
Cape of Good Hope
Date Retrieved Reference Types Citation
Site Association
x y z
Media
Powered by Drupal

Creative Commons Licence
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 South Africa License.