Clocks · Clock
A large porcelain mantel clock, Berlin, KPM, 18th /19th century
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 19th century
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Germany
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- brass, porcelain, enamel, glass
- Auction house
- Invaluable auction listings
- Lot
- Lot B84E2F1FF5
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: lot 360, Works of Art, Antiquities & Ancient Art - Part I, Hermann Historica GmbH (2026), via Invaluable
- Catalogue title (original)
- A large porcelain mantel clock, Berlin, KPM, 18th /19th century (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Invaluable auction listings (lot Lot B84E2F1FF5), this is a clock, made in Germany, dated 19th century. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: brass, porcelain, enamel, glass. The record is illustrated with 4 photographs.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Lot description — Hermann Historica GmbH
Porcelain, painted in colour. On three rocaille feet. Polychrome painting: butterflies on the front, the sides embellished with birds and bouquets of fruit and flowers. Fully sculptured blossoms and rocaille ornaments. The hours on the enamel clock face marked by Roman numerals, the seconds in Arabic numerals, brass hands, under a glass cloche. Brass movement. A bust of Jupiter as the finial. The base with a blue underglaze sceptre mark. A metal panel on the back. Some blossoms knocked, the rocaille ornaments at the front knocked, Jupiter restored, firing flaws, defects on the clock face. Pendulum and key included. Dimensions 60 x 30 cm. This model can be found in various Hohenzollern castles. The clock may have been presented by the Hohenzollern family to the von Alvensleben family. Please note: self-collection or a shipping quote should be obtained prior to bidding. Condition: III +
Historical context
Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
Harrison solves longitude; Mudge invents the lever; Breguet's Paris workshop defines the modern watch.
The age of the deadbeat escapement, compensated pendulums and observatory regulators. Domestic clocks spread through the middle classes: English longcase and bracket clocks, French gilt-bronze mantel clocks, Viennese Biedermeier wall clocks, Black Forest painted-shield clocks, and the first American shelf clocks.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Early Modern Horology
Atlas type guide
Mantel and French pendule clocks
The mantel clock — the French pendule de cheminée — is as much decorative art as timekeeper. From the late seventeenth century Parisian clockmakers worked with cabinet-makers, bronze founders and gilders (ciseleurs-doreurs) to create cases in Boulle marquetry, gilt bronze and marble, while the movements were often supplied by specialist makers. Clocks of the Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI periods, and Empire clocks with allegorical figures, set fashions copied across Europe.
The nineteenth century industrialised the type. The 'Paris movement', a standardised round movement with silk-thread or Brocot suspension and count-wheel striking, was made in huge numbers by firms such as Japy and Vincenti, and fitted into cases of every style and material.
What to look for
- Round 'Paris' movements with makers' stamps (e.g. Japy Frères, Vincenti, S. Marti) and medal marks from exhibitions.
- Suspension type: silk thread (earlier) or Brocot adjustable suspension (after c. 1840).
- Visible Brocot escapement on the dial in later clocks.
- Fire-gilt (mercury) gilding on bronzes versus later electro-gilding.
- Signed dials naming a retailer rather than the movement maker.
Dating clues
- Silk-suspension Paris movements: c. 1800–1850.
- Brocot suspension and visible escapements: after c. 1840.
- Exhibition medal stamps on movements give dates after the medal year.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
Read next:Anchor (recoil) escapement
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