Clocks · Table clock
Table clock by Louis Montjoye, France, 1723–1811
- Maker / attribution
- Louis Montjoye (creator)
- Date
- 1723–1811
- 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_IHCHHW5AEJHI5XBTGYIQ4BZU4M6RS7FZ
- Catalogue title (original)
- Tischuhr mit antikisierender Vase (German)
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe (object number item_IHCHHW5AEJHI5XBTGYIQ4BZU4M6RS7FZ), this is a table clock by Louis Montjoye, made in France, dated 1723–1811. 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)
Wegen der Neuausstattung des Schlosses in Karlsruhe hielt sich das Markgrafenpaar Karl Friedrich (1728-1811) und Caroline Luise von Baden (1723-1783) 1771 mehrere Monate in Paris auf. Sie informierten sich über die aktuelle Wohnkultur und tätigten Einkäufe. Sie erwarb Kleinmöbel, Bronzen, Stoffe und auch diese Pendule. Das Uhrgehäuse wird von miteinander verbundenen klassischen Architektur- und Ornamentteilen bestimmt. Dieser als Frühklassizismus oder "goût grec", bezeichnete Modestil zeigt sich bei der Uhr durch die Verwendung des Säulenstumpfs und der antiken Vase. Nach einem Inventar von 1787 stand im zweiten Vorzimmer des Appartements der Markgräfin Caroline Luise eine "Uhr von vergoldeter Composition, stellt eine Urne auf einer abgekürzten Säule vor, zeigt Stunden und Minuten, hat einen unbeweglichen Zeiger in Form einer Schlange".
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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.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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