A magnificent Louis XV gilt bronze cartel clock with bracket of 14 day duration by Normand à  Paris and superb case stamped S. Germain, signed on the white enamel dial Normand à  Paris. The dial with outer Arabic and inner Roman numerals and a very fine pair of pierced gilt brass hands for the hours and minutes. The movement with five tapered pillars, anchor escapement, spring suspension, striking on the hour and half hour on a single bell with outside count wheel. Paris, date circa 1745-49 Literature: Pierre Kjellberg, 'Encyclopédie de la Pendule Française du Moyen Age au XXe Siècle' 1997, p. 91, pl. F, illustrating a very similar clock with bracket signed on the dial Etne Baillon à  Paris, the case likewise stamped with a C-couronné poinson, with additional surmounting foliage, below which the case is of almost identical design except that it has only one dragon which is in a slightly different position. And p. 119, pl. C, illustrating a clock lacking the lower bracket which is identical to the present model and significantly is signed Saint-Germain; the dial being signed D. Robert à La-Chaux-de-Fonds. |