![[*] French Clock under glass dome — view 1 of 1](/__l5e/assets-v1/3fedfacb-803d-4b48-80fb-5298b64e1f8a/french-clock-under-glass-dome-ec485a-1.jpg)
Clocks · Clock
[*] French Clock under glass dome
- Maker / attribution
- Japy Frères (maker); H. Y. Marc (maker)
- Date
- ca. 1860
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- France
- Place
- France
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- Gilt bronze and alabaster, with glass dome
- Dimensions
- Width: 51 cm; Height: 53.5 cm; Depth: 17.8 cm
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- M.75 to B-1980
- Credit line
- Given by Mrs J.C. Sonford
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number M.75 to B-1980), this is a clock by Japy Frères, made in France, dated ca. 1860. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Gilt bronze and alabaster, with glass dome. Recorded dimensions: Width: 51 cm; Height: 53.5 cm; Depth: 17.8 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
V&A — Summary
Object Type This type of large, elaborate clock was intended to make a grand statement on a drawing room mantelpiece or sideboard. The sculptural elements were a popular feature of clocks of the period. Time The gilt-bronze figure of a mounted North African warrior, the military trophies and the palm leaves that ornament the clock reflect the French colonial ambitions of the period. North Africa held a particular allure and writers such as Alphonse Daudet (1840-1897) used the area as a setting for novels. Manufacturing & Trade The clock movement was made by Japy Frères, who were the largest and most commercially significant clockmakers in France in the 19th century. Although mass-produced, the clocks were of a high quality and the firm won prizes at many national and international exhibitions. The clock case may have been retailed by H.Y. Marc, who may also have made clocks as well as selling them. Japy Frères certainly supplied other clocks to H.Y. Marc, but the clock case is very coarse, which suggests that it came from a different supplier.
V&A — Physical description
Clock. Gilt bronze and alabaster, with original glass dome. Movement made by the firm of Japy Frères, Beaucourt, France; the case by the retailer H.Y. Marc, Paris
V&A — Object history
Movement made by the firm of Japy Frères, Beaucourt, France; the case by the retailer H.Y. Marc, Paris
V&A gallery label
British Galleries: Gilt bronze had been used for grand furnishings in France for more than 150 years. In Britain it came to represent wealth and luxury. The fashion for clocks as small-scale sculpture also came from France.
Inscriptions & marks
Dial inscribed: 'H.Y. Marc … Paris'
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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