Clocks · Mantel clock
Mantel clock, Germany, 1830–1840
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1830–1840
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Germany
- Place
- Deutschland (Herstellung)
- Object type
- Mantel clock
- Materials / technique
- Emaille (Material/Technik) Glas (Material/Technik) Holz (Material/Technik) KunstHandwerk Techniken (Material/Technik) Metall (Material/Technik) gefasst (Material/Technik) vergoldet (Material/Technik) versilbert (Material/Technik)
- Dimensions
- Gesamt (HxBxT): 56,5 x 30 x 19,5 cm
- Holding institution
- City Museum Berlin
- Accession / object no.
- VI 21157 (Inventarnummer)
- Credit line
- City Museum Berlin
- Catalogue title (original)
- Kaminuhr Chinoiserie und Automat (German)
View the source record ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Held and catalogued by City Museum Berlin (object number VI 21157 (Inventarnummer)), this is a mantel clock, made in Deutschland (Herstellung), Germany, dated 1830–1840. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Emaille (Material/Technik) Glas (Material/Technik) Holz (Material/Technik) KunstHandwerk Techniken (Material/Technik) Metall (Material/Technik) gefasst (Material/Technik) vergoldet (Material/Technik) versilbert (Material/Technik). Recorded dimensions: Gesamt (HxBxT): 56,5 x 30 x 19,5 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
The source record does not include a narrative description. The structured fields above are reproduced from it.
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
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
Related records
Clocks · 1780s (inferred: the museum dates the style to the 1780s and the music includes Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride of 1779)
Musical longcase clock, Roentgen workshop, Neuwied, 1780s
Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe
Clocks · c. 1750
Clock by Georg Gfell, Germany, c. 1750
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 1750–1799
Cuckoo / black forest clock, Germany, 1750–1799
Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe
Clocks · c. 1774–75
Longcase clock by Hermann Achenbach, Germany, c. 1774–75
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Clocks · c. 1780–90
Clock, workshop of David Roentgen, Germany, c. 1780–90
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Clocks · c. 1800
Musical clock by Martin Vanlo?, Germany, c. 1800
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Clocks · 1787
Astronomical clock, Germany, 1787
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 1800–1899
Clock by Carl Meeß, Germany, 1800–1899
Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe