Clocks · Table clock
Table clock by Jean Simon Bourdier, France, 1738–1814
- Maker / attribution
- Jean Simon Bourdier (creator)
- Date
- 1738–1814
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- France
- Place
- France
- Object type
- Table clock
- Holding institution
- Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe
- Accession / object no.
- item_IW75QNQNJUVJYVC5OWUPQOXXQ3I5WVVF
- Catalogue title (original)
- Tischuhr mit der Darstellung von Sphingen und einer Opferszene (German)
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe (object number item_IW75QNQNJUVJYVC5OWUPQOXXQ3I5WVVF), this is a table clock by Jean Simon Bourdier, made in France, dated 1738–1814. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. 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
Catalogue description from Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe (German)
Das Gehäuse dieser Prunkuhr ist mit Bronzereliefs dekoriert und wird von zwei plastische gearbeiteten, geflügelten Sphingen bekrönt. Im Zentrum sind zwei Frauen in wallenden Gewändern zu sehen, die Amor ein Brandopfer darbringen und dabei von zwei Putten begleitet werden. Über der Szene befindet sich ein halbkreisförmiger Ausschnitt mit sich bewegenden, blau emaillierten Stunden- und Minutenringen. Die opfernden Frauen sind ganz im Stile von Clodion gestaltet, eigentlich Claude Michel (1738-1814), einem französischen Bildhauer, der berühmt ist für seine Statuetten, Reliefs, Antikenkopien und graziöse Frauengestalten in koketter Pose. Unter dem Synonym "Clodion" wurde er zu einem der bedeutendsten Künstler des Rokoko.
Shown in the original language of the source catalogue. An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
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
Bracket, table and spring-driven clocks
Spring-driven clocks freed timekeeping from the hanging weight. The coiled mainspring, documented from the fifteenth century, made portable table clocks possible; to even out its declining force, makers used the fusee, a conical pulley connected to the barrel by a gut line or chain. Renaissance table clocks from Augsburg and Nuremberg — drum-shaped, square or tower-shaped in gilt brass — were luxury scientific objects, often with astronomical dials and alarms.
After the pendulum, English makers developed the bracket clock: a wooden case with a carrying handle, a short pendulum with a verge escapement, and often repeating work to sound the hours on demand at night. Later examples use the anchor escapement. In the nineteenth century, 'table clock' became a broad term for spring clocks of every nationality.
What to look for
- A fusee in the movement (cone-shaped pulley) and the type of line — gut or chain.
- Verge escapement with a short bob pendulum, often with a decoratively engraved backplate.
- Repeat cords or buttons that make the clock strike again on demand.
- Gilt-brass engraved cases and horizontal dials on Renaissance pieces.
- Case shapes: inverted bell, bell top, break-arch, lancet or balloon.
Dating clues
- Drum and tower table clocks: c. 1520–1650.
- Ebony veneered English bracket clocks with verge escapements: c. 1670–1800.
- Engraved backplates were usual on English clocks until c. 1800, then generally plain.
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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