Clocks · Clock
Clock by Escuela Francesa, c. 1800
- Maker / attribution
- Escuela Francesa (Maker)
- Date
- c. 1800
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Place
- Francia
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- Bronce Mármol
- Dimensions
- Altura = 57,50 cm Anchura = 38 cm
- Holding institution
- Lázaro Galdiano Museum
- Accession / object no.
- pages_Main_idt_132480_inventary_08366_table_FMUS_museum_MLGM
- Credit line
- Lázaro Galdiano Museum
- Catalogue title (original)
- Reloj de mesa - Reloj (Spanish)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Lázaro Galdiano Museum (object number pages_Main_idt_132480_inventary_08366_table_FMUS_museum_MLGM), this is a clock by Escuela Francesa, made in Francia, dated c. 1800. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Bronce Mármol. Recorded dimensions: Altura = 57,50 cm Anchura = 38 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 Lázaro Galdiano Museum
Reloj de sobremesa con pedestal de mármol blanco, adornado con molduras de bronce dorado, de planta mixtilínea, recta en los frentes y oval en los costados, originando un cuerpo con laterales cóncavos estrigilados. En el centro del pedestal se aloja la esfera esmaltada en blanco con cifras horarias romanas. Sobre el pedestal una figura de bronce dorado que representa a Diana rompiendo el arco de Cupido, alegoría de La Castidad. Movimiento del tipo Paris. Motor a resorte de ocho días cuerda. Escape de áncora con péndulo. Sonería de horas y medias, por sistema de rueda contadera, sobre campana (Colón de Carvajal)
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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.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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