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
- Patinated bronze, enamel, Siena marble
- Dimensions
- Height: 22.75 in; Length: 15.75 in
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- 661-1901
- Credit line
- Given by Sir Edwin Durning Lawrence Bart
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number 661-1901), 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: Patinated bronze, enamel, Siena marble. Recorded dimensions: Height: 22.75 in; Length: 15.75 in. 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 mantel clock featuring a patinated bronze figure representing Mars, God of War, supported on a yellow marble base mounted in similarly patinated bronze reliefs of military trophies
Physical description — Victoria and Albert Museum
The clock forms a seat for the bronze figure representing Mars wearing an antique helmet and holding in his left arm an octagonal shield bearing a lion-mask within a laurel wreath; the sword formerly in his right hand is missing. The white enamel dial has Roman numerals encircled by a laurel wreath in patinated bronze. The clock and figure of Mars are supported by an oblong pedestal of yellow Siena marble bearing a trophy of arms in front consisting of crossed spears and a helmet with sprays of laurel. The lower plinth rests on four feet, the front pair enriched with acanthus foliage is similarly patinated bronze.
Historical context — Victoria and Albert Museum
The clock was intended for display on a mantelpiece
Provenance
Given by Sir E. Durning Lawrence 1st Baronet (2 February 1837 – 21 April 1914) a British lawyer and Member of Parliament for Truro 1895-1906. In 1898 Edwin changed his name to Durning-Lawrence, in honour of his wife's maternal grandfather, and was created 1st Baronet Durning-Lawrence, of King's Ride, Ascot, Berkshire in the same year. In the absence of a male heir, on his death, his baronetcy became extinct. Durning-Lawrence was a prolific author. He wrote The Progress of a Century; or, The Age of Iron and Steam (1886), and A Short History of Lighting from the Earliest Times (1895). He also left an endowment to the university. In the 1920s the artist Henry Tonks, who felt the need for a stronger presence of History of Art within the university, was able to convert the endowment into a chair in that discipline at University College, despite the fact that Durning-Lawrence himself had no especial interest in the subject (though he had donated thirteen paintings to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1901). The first holder of the Durning-Lawrence chair was Tancred Borenius.
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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