![Clock by Maxant, Etienne [Autor del movimiento del reloj], 1876–1900 (late 19th century) — view 1 of 1](/__l5e/assets-v1/f9525ecd-e899-4a1a-a40e-cf94e50ee223/clock-by-maxant-etienne-act-1880-ca-1905-ca-autor-del-movimiento-del-r-d36954-1.jpg)
Clocks · Clock
Clock by Maxant, Etienne [Autor del movimiento del reloj], 1876–1900 (late 19th century)
- Maker / attribution
- Maxant, Etienne [Autor del movimiento del reloj] (Maker)
- Date
- 1876–1900 (late 19th century)
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Place
- París
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- Mármol Bronce Porcelana Pigmento
- Dimensions
- Altura = 65 cm Anchura = 28 cm Profundidad = 28 cm
- Holding institution
- National Museum of Romanticism
- Accession / object no.
- pages_Main_idt_14548_inventary_CE7418_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_14548_inventary_CE7418_table_FMUS_museum_MNR), this is a clock by Maxant, Etienne [Autor del movimiento del reloj], made in París, dated 1876–1900 (late 19th century). The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Mármol Bronce Porcelana Pigmento. Recorded dimensions: Altura = 65 cm Anchura = 28 cm Profundidad = 28 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. Maquinaria del tipo París, a volante, con sonería de horas y media sobre timbre. Sobre pedestal cuadrangular de mármol con decoración de frisos en bronce dorado, se erige una columna de fuste acanalado que se corona con un jarrón que alberga el reloj. La columna está rodeada por tres figuras femeninas de bulto redondo realizadas en bronce. Se presentan desnudas, con largos cabellos recogidos en trenzas o moños y entrelazadas con guirnaldas. La maquinaria presenta dos marcas de fábrica: un sello oval con la patente de Etienne Maxant y un tampón con forma de navio en el que aparecen las iniciales JLV / EMS sobre 14780. Es un prototipo de reloj tournant que presenta gran similitud con el modelo original de las Tres Gracias, en mármol blanco, realizado por el escultor Étienne-Maurice Falconet, que se conserva en el Museo de Louvre, del que se realizaron varias copias en porcelana bizcochada. Esta tipología fue de gran aceptación entre las clases altas europeas de los siglos XVIII y XIX, existiendo piezas realizadas en otros materiales y con variaciones en el diseño de las figuras. Estos relojes se denominan de esfera de aros giratorios, de discos rotativos o de cercles tournantes, por los dos aros horizontales y paralelos que giran separadamente ante una flecha fija como la de este ejemplar, que es serpentiforme, o pasan ante una ventanilla abierta al efecto. Este diseño es heredero de los relojes pivotantes alemanes del siglo XVI que estuvo muy de moda en el estilo Luis XVI (1754-1793). A este estilo pertenece el reloj que estudiamos, fundamentado en el gusto a la griega, que mezcla la decoración de tipo figurativo y vegetal con la mitología y la arquitectura clásicas. El jarrón a la antigua que lo corona está presente en todos los campos de las artes decorativas del momento, en la relojería, la porcelana, el mobiliario o la orfebrería. Se puede comprobar su influencia en la pareja de jarrones de mármol verde y bronce dorado del Museo Nacional del Romanticismo (Inv. CE7385 y CE7386).
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
Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
American interchangeable-parts manufacture; railroad time standards; Swiss and German factory systems.
Factory production transformed the clock into an everyday object. American makers (Seth Thomas, Ansonia, Waterbury) and German factories (Junghans, Gustav Becker, Lenzkirch) sold millions of shelf, wall and alarm clocks worldwide; France produced standardised Paris movements and carriage clocks; electric time distribution began.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Precision & Scientific 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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