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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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A very fine late Louis XVI gilt bronze mounted enamel and marble skeleton clock of eight day duration signed Bruel à Paris on the case above the main dial. The main dial encircled by a beaded ring, with a white enamel chapter ring with Arabic numerals for the hours and minutes, with names of the week and signs of the zodiac and an outer Republican 30 day calendar ring, with a very fine pair of pierced gilt brass hands for the hours and minutes and blued steel pointers for the seconds and days of the month and a dual pointer for the days of the week and signs of the zodiac, the cut-out dial centre to reveal the skeletonised movement with pinwheel escapement, striking on the hour and half hour on a single bell, with outside count wheel, with a free swinging Apollo head pendulum hanging between the arched frame. The main dial surmounted by a beautifully polychrome painted lunar dial showing the moon against a blue star studded sky above an extensive landscape with lake and Cupid upon an urn in the foreground and outer Arabic numerals for the 29 ½ days of the lunar month, with a third subsidiary dial ring below the main dial showing the months of the year indicated by a blued steel pointer. The arched dark blue enamel frame with foliate rinceaux and acanthus leaves resting on gilt bronze mounted white marble Doric columns on a rectangular white marble base with gilt beaded border on toupie feet Paris, date circa 1793-5 Height 47 cm, width 26.5 cm, depth 13.5 cm. Literature: Tardy, “Les Plus Belles Pendules Françaises”, 1994, p. 207, colour pl. XLIII, illustrating a very similar skeleton clock by Bruel in the Musée Carnavalet, likewise showing the Republican calendar month on the main dial with an outer beaded ring but surmounted by a decimal dial in place of the present lunar dial and lacking the third subsidiary calendar ring. Pierre Kjellberg, “Encyclopédie de la Pendule Française du Moyen Age au XXe Siècle”, 1997, p. 319, pl. C, illustrating an almost identical skeleton clock by Bruel, with less ornate main and lunar dials and lacking the third subsidiary calendar ring. Toward the end of Louis XVI’s reign, skeleton clocks were very much in vogue and continued in popularity throughout the Directoire. With their open framework and cut-out dials that enabled all parts of the movement to be viewed, they enabled clockmakers to demonstrate their technological prowess and innovative skills. The design of the case was now more delicate and lighter by the replacement of pure gilt bronze by enamel work, the finest of which was executed by Joseph Coteau (1740-1801) and Etienne Gobin, known as Dubuisson (b. 1731 d. after 1815) who may well have been responsible for the present enamel decorations. |