Clocks · Clock
Clock, France, 1800–1825
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1800–1825
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- France
- Place
- France
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- Ormolu, enamel, mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height: 23.3 in; Length: 16 in; Width: 5.9 in (clock); Length: 19.1 in (stand); Width: 9.6 in (stand)
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- M.67:1 to 4-1913
- Credit line
- Bequeathed by Edward Beck, 1913
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number M.67:1 to 4-1913), this is a clock, made in France, dated 1800–1825. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Ormolu, enamel, mahogany. Recorded dimensions: Height: 23.3 in; Length: 16 in; Width: 5.9 in (clock); Length: 19.1 in (stand); Width: 9.6 in (stand). 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
Summary — Victoria and Albert Museum
A French Empire mantel clock with a standing figure of Apollo holding a lyre and leaning on the clock case which contains the enamelled dial. The plinth, which contains a musical box, is decorated with applied ormolu swags. The clock rests on a mahogany stand and has an associated glass dome.
Physical description — Victoria and Albert Museum
An upright rectangular body supported on an oblong pedestal with projecting mahogany plinth on four knob feet, containing a musical box; two steel keys and a glass shade. The flat surfaces in front are decorated with applied openwork reliefs in ormolu. The clock consists of an enamelled dial-ring with a standing ormolu figure playing the lyre on one side representing Apollo; on the other is a sistrum. On the top a trophy emblematic of Apollo
Brief description — Victoria and Albert Museum
Empire mantel clock, with a figure of Apollo and lyre, mounted on a music box in a wooden case; back door for access to the movement is missing. With stand and two keys. French, early 19th century.
Provenance
Bequeathed by Edward Beck per Guy Ellis.
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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