Mathematical instrument maker
Michael Butterfield
Also recorded as: Butterfield, Michael
English-born Paris instrument maker whose pocket sundials gave their name to the 'Butterfield dial'.
Butterfield worked in Paris from the 1660s, becoming instrument maker to Louis XIV. His portable horizontal sundials — octagonal silver plates with a compass and a folding gnomon often supported by a bird — were so popular and so widely imitated that the type is called a Butterfield dial.
- Country
- France (born England)
- City / centre
- Paris
- Life / active
- 1635–1724
- Status
- Historical individual
- Key people
- Michael Butterfield
Innovations & specialities
- Butterfield-type pocket sundial
Works by Michael Butterfield in the catalogue
Open in the catalogue →
Instruments · 1678-1724
Horizontal Butterfield-type sundial for latitude 48 degrees 51' (Paris), signed " Butterfield A Paris", in shagreen covered case. French, c.1690
Science Museum Group, London
Instruments · 1678-1724
Pocket sun dial with folding gnomon silver, in fish-skin case, 3 1/16 in lay 2 5/8 in inscribed "Butterfield a Paris", 1678-1724, Paris, France
Science Museum Group, London
Instruments · 1680-1700
Sundial and case by Michael Butterfield, France, 1680-1700
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Instruments · 1685-1724
Armillary / astronomical instrument by Butterfield, Michael, France, 1685-1724
Science Museum Group, London
Linked through the Atlas maker authority list, which reconciles the spellings used by different institutions. Attributions are as stated by each holding institution or auction house.
