Clocks · Clock
Louis XV Cartel Wall Clock, France, 18th Century
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 18th century
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- France
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- bronze, gilt
- Auction house
- Invaluable auction listings
- Lot
- Lot 8F5BDDF512
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: lot 172, Wunderkammer & Objets de Vertu | Historical Clocks & Timepieces | An Old Masters Print Collection, Marcopolo Auctions Milano (2026), via Invaluable
- Catalogue title (original)
- LOUIS XV CARTEL WALL CLOCK, FRANCE, 18TH CENTURY (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Invaluable auction listings (lot Lot 8F5BDDF512), this is a clock, made in France, dated 18th century. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: bronze, gilt. The record is illustrated with 4 photographs.
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
Lot description — Marcopolo Auctions Milano
h cm 84,5 x l cm 40 x w cm 16, The cartouche dial signed “Ripert à Paris”, with blue Roman numerals for the hours and black Arabic numerals for the minutes. The wooden case covered in horn, decorated with painted floral motifs and gilt-bronze mounts. Later pendulum. Complete with its original matching wall bracket.
Historical context
Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
Huygens' pendulum and balance spring transform accuracy; English makers develop the anchor and deadbeat escapements.
Huygens's pendulum (1656–57) improved clock accuracy from about a quarter of an hour to under a minute a day. The anchor escapement (c. 1670) and the long seconds pendulum created the longcase clock; London makers such as Fromanteel, Knibb, Tompion and Quare led European clockmaking, and French makers created the Boulle pendule.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Renaissance Horology
Atlas type guide
Mantel and French pendule clocks
The mantel clock — the French pendule de cheminée — is as much decorative art as timekeeper. From the late seventeenth century Parisian clockmakers worked with cabinet-makers, bronze founders and gilders (ciseleurs-doreurs) to create cases in Boulle marquetry, gilt bronze and marble, while the movements were often supplied by specialist makers. Clocks of the Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI periods, and Empire clocks with allegorical figures, set fashions copied across Europe.
The nineteenth century industrialised the type. The 'Paris movement', a standardised round movement with silk-thread or Brocot suspension and count-wheel striking, was made in huge numbers by firms such as Japy and Vincenti, and fitted into cases of every style and material.
What to look for
- Round 'Paris' movements with makers' stamps (e.g. Japy Frères, Vincenti, S. Marti) and medal marks from exhibitions.
- Suspension type: silk thread (earlier) or Brocot adjustable suspension (after c. 1840).
- Visible Brocot escapement on the dial in later clocks.
- Fire-gilt (mercury) gilding on bronzes versus later electro-gilding.
- Signed dials naming a retailer rather than the movement maker.
Dating clues
- Silk-suspension Paris movements: c. 1800–1850.
- Brocot suspension and visible escapements: after c. 1840.
- Exhibition medal stamps on movements give dates after the medal year.
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.
Read next:Anchor (recoil) escapement
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