Clocks · Clock
Clock, 1800-1900 (Siglo XIX)
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1800-1900 (Siglo XIX)
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Place
- Francia
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- Madera de caoba Vidrio Bronce Bronce
- Dimensions
- Altura = 47,50 cm Anchura = 29 cm Profundidad = 16 cm
- Holding institution
- National Museum of Romanticism
- Accession / object no.
- pages_Main_idt_8044_inventary_CE0362_table_FMUS_museum_MNR
- Credit line
- National Museum of Romanticism
- Catalogue title (original)
- Reloj (Spanish)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by National Museum of Romanticism (object number pages_Main_idt_8044_inventary_CE0362_table_FMUS_museum_MNR), this is a clock, made in Francia, dated 1800-1900 (Siglo XIX). The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Madera de caoba Vidrio Bronce Bronce. Recorded dimensions: Altura = 47,50 cm Anchura = 29 cm Profundidad = 16 cm. The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.
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
Catalogue description from National Museum of Romanticism
Reloj de sobremesa con caja de madera en forma de templete. Base escalonada en dos niveles, paredes acristaladas, cornisa moldurada y remates esféricos con casquillo floral, en bronce dorado. En el interior, esfera de bronce dorado, decorada con círculos concéntricos de diseño sinuoso grabados. Horarias en números romanos, pintados en negro. Dos bocallaves bajo el cañón de agujas. Cerco con orla de roleos vegetales cincelados. Péndulo con lenteja calada decorada con guirnalda de flores. Es una muestra de la categoría artística que alcanza el arte de la relojería en Europa a partir del siglo XVIII. La moda exigía que en todo gabinete, despacho, salón o dormitorio, uno o más relojes completasen el mobiliario, contribuyendo así al esplendor y lujo de residencias reales tanto como las pertenecientes a señores o adinerados. Los relojes de pórtico o templete tuvieron una amplia aceptación en los mercados francés y exterior desde la época del Imperio hasta casi finalizado el siglo XIX. Su atractivo consiste en poder contemplar el movimiento del péndulo. Se realizaron en bronce, maderas nobles o ebonizadas, mármol o alabastro, y con variedad de tipos de columnas y péndulos. En este caso, el reloj que tratamos es una adaptación de una esfera y un péndulo franceses, de bronce dorado, decorados con motivos vegetales, a una caja prismática de paredes acristaladas, de gran sobriedad.
Shown in the original language of the source catalogue. An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
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
Domestic clocks
A clock combines four systems: a source of power (falling weight, coiled spring, or later electricity), a gear train that divides time, an escapement and oscillator that regulate it (foliot, pendulum or balance), and an indicating system of dial and hands or a bell. Its history runs from the large iron weight-driven clocks of the late thirteenth century to Renaissance spring-driven table clocks, the pendulum revolution of 1656, the factory clocks of the nineteenth century and electric and quartz clocks of the twentieth.
Domestic clocks also reflect regional furniture and decorative traditions — English longcase and bracket clocks, French pendules, Viennese regulators, Black Forest and American shelf clocks — and therefore record changing tastes as much as technical progress.
What to look for
- How the clock is powered: weights, spring barrel, fusee, electric coil.
- The oscillator: foliot, short pendulum, long seconds pendulum or balance.
- Whether it strikes: hour only (count wheel) or hours and quarters (rack striking).
- The maker or retailer's name on dial and movement, and any factory trademarks.
- Signs of alteration — replaced dials, converted escapements, 'married' cases.
Dating clues
- Before 1656 clocks used foliots or balances; after, most domestic clocks have pendulums.
- Anchor escapements spread after c. 1670; minute hands became common at the same time.
- Factory production in America and Germany transformed prices after c. 1840.
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.
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