A French carriage clock, stamped on the backplate for Drocourt, c. 1880. The faceted-glass Anglaise case in cloisonné technique has Corinthian columns to the sides and a polychrome cloisonné enamel mask adorned with foliate scrolls, flowers and leaves with two dragons centrally. The eight-day movement has a lever-platform escapement and grande sonnerie striking on two gongs with repeat. There is a lever in the bottom plate to select either grande sonnerie, petite sonnerie or silence. The enamel dial has a subsidiary alarm dial below the main dial and has a central sweep seconds hand. • Height: 20.5cm. • The makers, Pierre and Alfred Drocourt, father and son, were initially established at Rue Debelleyme 28 in Paris but later moved to other places, amongst them Saint-Nicolas-d’Aliermont, near Dieppe in Normandy. They were active in the second half of the 19th century and had an excellent reputation for making carriage clocks, for which they were awarded prizes at several exhibitions in London, Paris and Besançon. • Literature: Allix and Bonnert, Carriage Clocks, Their History and Development, Woodbridge, 1981, p. 438; Tardy, Dictionnaire des Horlogers Français, Paris, 1971, p. 188.
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The Horological Foundation Desk Diary Project. |