Clocks · Clock
Clock by Raingo Frères, c. 1840
- Maker / attribution
- Raingo Frères (Maker)
- Date
- c. 1840
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Place
- París
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- Bronce Esmalte Vidrio Acero Latón
- Dimensions
- Altura = 52,60 cm Profundidad = 13,80 cm Anchura máxima = 40,20 cmEsfera de reloj: Diámetro = 10,30 cm
- Holding institution
- National Museum of Decorative Arts
- Accession / object no.
- pages_Main_idt_6277_inventary_CE06262_table_FMUS_museum_MNAD
- Credit line
- National Museum of Decorative Arts
- Catalogue title (original)
- Reloj de sobremesa (Spanish)
View the source record ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Held and catalogued by National Museum of Decorative Arts (object number pages_Main_idt_6277_inventary_CE06262_table_FMUS_museum_MNAD), this is a clock by Raingo Frères, made in París, dated c. 1840. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Bronce Esmalte Vidrio Acero Latón. Recorded dimensions: Altura = 52,60 cm Profundidad = 13,80 cm Anchura máxima = 40,20 cmEsfera de reloj: Diámetro = 10,30 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 Decorative Arts
Reloj de sobremesa francés con caja escultórica hueca en su interior de bronce dorado. Se dispone sobre un podio troncopiramidal de perfil cóncavo, peraltado por cuatro patas y con el frente adornado por diversos apliques decorativos, volutas en las esquinas y una cartela central con marco de cueros recortados. El faldón inferior también se recorta con abundante decoración de bandas y elementos vegetales. La cartela del tramo inferior muestra la imagen de un rey francés coronado, con la cruz de los templarios en el pecho. Su mano izquierda apunta al cielo y está incorporado en un paisaje en el que se recorta una iglesia de época carolingia. Esta imagen puede ser tal vez una representación poco habitual de San Luis o incluso una idealización romántica de la figura de Carlomagno. Sobre este banco o peana aparece la escena principal del reloj junto a la esfera del mismo. Dicha escena representa a un caballero ataviado con armadura y rasgos nobles, cortejando a una dama igualmente de alta categoría, vestida ostentosamente y luciendo ricas joyas en cuello, orejas, cabellos y vestiduras. La dama aparece tomando la mano del caballero mientras, apoyada en el tronco de una viejo árbol, se muestra emocionada quizá por el texto que el caballero acaba de leer en el rollo que porta en su mano derecha. La esfera, de color azul oscuro liso, muestra números romanos en esmalte blanco para las horas, que van del I al XII, dejando los minutos con pequeñas rayas, también en esmalte blanco. Las agujas son de fina lámina de latón dorado, de tipo calado. La parte trasera de la caja es totalmente lisa y solo presenta un orificio en su centro que deja acceder a la maquinaria. Posee bisel de bronce dorado liso con vidrio convexo que se abre manualmente de izquierda a derecha. El mecanismo está compuesto por macillo y campana para la sonería, rueda dentada para activar la sonería de hora con muescas diferentes para cada número y estructura donde se colocaría el péndulo -el cual está perdido-. El resto de la maquinaria se esconde tras una platina que impide su visualización.
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.
Related records
Clocks · 1860–1870
Clock by Raingo Frères, France, 1860–1870
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · c. 1780
Longcase clock by Louis George, Eberswalde, c. 1780
Museum Eberswalde
Clocks · 1780s (inferred: the museum dates the style to the 1780s and the music includes Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride of 1779)
Musical longcase clock, Roentgen workshop, Neuwied, 1780s
Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe
Clocks · 1740–1760
Longcase clock, English, 1740–1760, japanned wood, John Ellicott
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · 1740–60
Tall clock by Samuel Bagnall, United States, 1740–60
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Clocks · c.1750
Long-case clock, English, ca. 1750, by Richard Peyton of Gloucester
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · 1750–1800
Bracket clock in metal case with scroll handles and flamed-shaped top signed by Pierre Seignoret, Clockmaket to the the Comte d'Artois
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · c. 1750
Clock by Georg Gfell, Germany, c. 1750
German Clock Museum