Clocks · Clock
Clock, France, early 19th century
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- early 19th century
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- France
- Place
- France
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- Gilt bronze figure atop oval bronzed pedestal, dial made of glass and painted in black enamel
- Dimensions
- Height: 31 cm; Width: 11.6 cm
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- M.86-1987
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number M.86-1987), this is a clock, made in France, dated early 19th century. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Gilt bronze figure atop oval bronzed pedestal, dial made of glass and painted in black enamel. Recorded dimensions: Height: 31 cm; Width: 11.6 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
Physical description — Victoria and Albert Museum
The naked gilt bronze figure of the crouching Venus is placed on an oval bronzed pedestal into which a clock movement has been inserted. The oval pedestal rises from a plain gilt bronze plinth which is surmounted by a moulded band of overlapping waterleaves.The plain and bronzed sides of the pedestal are surmounted by a projecting cornice and an oval platform made of gilt bronze. The clock dial and movement are inserted into the front replacing the original gilt bronze mount of the winged Cupid flying accross the clouds on his bow and quiver. The dial is made of opaque white glass and painted in black enamel with arabic numerals for the hours.
Brief description — Victoria and Albert Museum
Gilt and patinated bronze clock with figure of Venus, France 1800-25, movement, 1880-1920
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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