Clocks · Clock
Clock, 1801–1833 (Primer tercio del siglo XIX)
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1801–1833 (Primer tercio del siglo XIX)
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Place
- Francia
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- Bronce Porcelana Pigmento
- Dimensions
- Altura = 33,50 cm Anchura = 29 cm Profundidad = 12 cm
- Holding institution
- National Museum of Romanticism
- Accession / object no.
- pages_Main_idt_6996_inventary_CE0243_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_6996_inventary_CE0243_table_FMUS_museum_MNR), this is a clock, made in Francia, dated 1801–1833 (Primer tercio del 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: Bronce Porcelana Pigmento. Recorded dimensions: Altura = 33,50 cm Anchura = 29 cm Profundidad = 12 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
Maquinaria del tipo París. Motor a resorte con ocho días de cuerda. Escape de áncora con péndulo compensado de varillas. Suspensión de cuchilla, sonería de horas y medias, por sistema de rueda contadera, sobre campana. Sobremesa de bronce dorado. En el lateral izquierdo, una figura femenina estante, reclinada sobre la esfera del reloj, en actitud de leer. Apoya la cabeza en la mano izquierda; con la derecha sostiene un libro abierto. Viste una larga túnica hasta los pies y cruza la pierna izquierda sobre la derecha. En el centro, esfera de porcelana blanca, con cifras en números romanos pintados en negro y dos bocallaves. Alrededor, ornamentación a modo de paños plegados. Bajo éstos, un relieve que simula una hilera de libros de los que sólo se aprecia el lomo. A la derecha, un fuste de columna torsa, rematado por un elemento torneado. Se apoya sobre una base rectangular, ornada con una banda de palmetas. En el frente, relieve con medallón central, con una figura infantil alada y sedente, de perfil derecho, que sostiene una antorcha en la mano derecha. Medallón flanqueado por decoración de roleos y palmetas. El conjunto se sustenta sobre cuatro patas torneadas. Este reloj de sobremesa alude simbólicamente a la lectura. Pertenece a una tipología que surge en Francia a finales del siglo XVIII, coincidiendo su desarrollo con el movimiento del Neoclasicismo durante el primer tercio del siglo XIX. De ahí que se pueda contextualizar dentro del estilo Imperio (1800-1830), junto a otros relojes del Museo del Romanticismo (Inv. CE0860 y CE7418); considerado continuación del estilo Luis XVI, toma de éste el gusto por las formas propias de la Antigüedad greco-romana y del misterioso Egipto. La expansión del Imperio napoleónico lleva consigo su introducción en otros países. A España llega de forma tardía durante el reinado de Fernando VII (1814-1833), del que toma el nombre de estilo Fernandino. Es Francia la que produce los más bellos ejemplares de relojes de sobremesa debido al auge que alcanza la industria relojera en este momento. A la perfección técnica de la maquinaria parisina se unen la construcción esmerada de la caja y la exquisitez decorativa, fruto de la colaboración de artesanos especializados que interpretaban con el mejor gusto el concepto artístico de cada estilo.
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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