Clocks · Clock
Monumental 19th-C. French Walnut Tall Clock
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 19th century
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- France
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- walnut, brass, enamel, steel, glass
- Dimensions
- 98.5" x 21.25" x 14
- Auction house
- Invaluable auction listings
- Lot
- Lot 0079D31B0C
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: lot 68, Important California Estates Auction, California Auctioneers (2026), via Invaluable
- Catalogue title (original)
- Monumental 19th-C. French Walnut Tall Clock (English)
View the source record (auction lot) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Catalogued by Invaluable auction listings (lot Lot 0079D31B0C), this is a clock, made in France, dated 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: walnut, brass, enamel, steel, glass. Recorded dimensions: 98.5" x 21.25" x 14. 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 — California Auctioneers
This 19th-century French longcase clock bears the stenciled workshop mark of Ateliers Andrau & Blanc in Toulouse. Standing 98.5 inches tall, the stately walnut case is defined by a deep figured grain and structured architectural proportions. The upper hood features a crisply executed high-relief carved crest over integrated dentil molding, framing a clean white enamel dial with Roman hour and Arabic minute markers. Below, the lockable waist door features a clear glass panel that reveals the original dual brass weights and pendulum bob. The lower plinth stands on robust bun feet and is flanked by fluted pilasters enclosing dimensional geometric paneling. Behind the dial, the multi-tier brass mechanical movement features an open-frame design with heavy plate construction, steel arbors, and an integrated count wheel strike mechanism paired with an external sounding bell. This multi-train configuration retains its original winding cords, weights, and components, providing a pristine technical example of late 19th-century provincial French horology; measures approx. 98.5" x 21.25" x 14.75"
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
Longcase (tall-case or grandfather) clocks
The longcase clock was born from two seventeenth-century innovations: Christiaan Huygens's pendulum (1656–57) and the anchor escapement (c. 1670). A long seconds pendulum, nearly a metre long, swings with a small arc, and enclosing it together with the driving weights in a tall wooden case protected the mechanism and created a new piece of furniture. London makers such as Ahasuerus Fromanteel, Thomas Tompion and Joseph Knibb set the pattern.
By the eighteenth century longcase clocks were made throughout Britain, the Netherlands, Scandinavia (the Swedish Mora clock), France (the Comtoise from the Franche-Comté), Germany and colonial America. Eight-day movements with two weights became standard in better clocks; thirty-hour clocks with one weight and a rope or chain were cheaper alternatives.
What to look for
- Winding holes in the dial: two (eight-day, going and striking) or none (thirty-hour, pulled up by a chain).
- Brass dials with applied chapter rings (earlier) versus painted iron 'white' dials (after c. 1770 in Britain).
- Moon-phase arches, date apertures, seconds dials and maker's name on the dial.
- Case woods and style: ebonised, walnut marquetry, lacquer, oak or mahogany; regional styles from London, Lancashire, Scotland or America.
- Whether the movement and dial match the case — 'marriages' are common.
Dating clues
- Square brass dials suggest c. 1670–1720; arched brass dials c. 1715–1790.
- Painted (white) dials were made by Birmingham dial-makers from about 1772.
- Comtoise clocks with repoussé pendulums are mostly nineteenth century.
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) escapementDeadbeat escapementAnchor escapement
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