Clocks · Clock
Temple clock, marble and ormolu, with glass dome, by Barancourt, Paris, about 1790
- Maker / attribution
- Pierre Michel Barancourt
- Date
- ca. 1780
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- France
- Place
- Paris
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- Marble and ormolu with a glass case
- Dimensions
- Height: 49.5 cm; Diameter: 21.6 cm
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- M.39:1, 2-1954
- Credit line
- Given by Rachel J. Rashleigh
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number M.39:1, 2-1954), this is a clock by Pierre Michel Barancourt, made in Paris, France, dated ca. 1780. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Marble and ormolu with a glass case. Recorded dimensions: Height: 49.5 cm; Diameter: 21.6 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
V&A — Summary
A table clock in the form of a classical temple with two storeys. The lower formed of four grey marble columns with ormolu capitals and bases on a white marble base with ormolu bead embellishment supported on four pedestal feet. Festoons of cord and tassels in ormolu link the four capitals. The movement is seated on the upper storey supported by four female terms cast and chased in ormolu. Above the movement a white marble dome, carried on the heads of the female terms, is surmounted by an ormolu pineapple finial with pendant chains. The movement is signed Barancourt for Pierre-Michel Barancourt (1745-1804), Paris, late 18th century. Given by Miss Rachel Rashleigh, 1954
V&A — Physical description
Case: The case is of marble, mounted with ormolu. The movement is supported on a peristyle of grey marble columns, resting on a white marble base. The movement itself is enclosed within a framework supported by four female terms of ormolu. Dial: The house is indicated by a pointer on two dials revolving horizontally, the upper indicating minutes, the lower indicating hours. The chapter rings are in the form of two rotating white enamel bands each mounted on the side of a drum 12.7cm diameter on a vertical arbor. The hour-ring has each Roman hour on a separate slightly convex enamel plate, 2.2cm high. The minute ring, above, is similar, with each plate marked with 5 dots for individual minutes and a numeral or pair of numerals in the usual sequence 5, 10, 15 etc. The '60'-plate is signed 'BARANCOURT' and the '30'-plate 'A PARIS'. Movement: The movement is unscreened and mounted between two horizontal plates 12.7cm diameter. There are two trains for going and for striking, anchor escapement and pendulum. The going train with going barrel and contrate drive carries a 33T escape wheel, with an inverted tic-tac escapement with pallets spanning 3T. The pendulum is 18.4cm long, with a flat circular bob 1.9cm diameter, regulated with wound-up cord. The locking-plate striking train, with going barrel has a count-wheel allowing a single stroke each half-hour. The movement is signed Barancourt. The whole clock is contained within a glass case.
V&A — Object history
Given by Miss Rachel Rashleigh in 1954
Inscriptions & marks
BARANCOURT
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
Domestic clocks
A clock combines four systems: a source of power (falling weight, coiled spring, or later electricity), a gear train that divides time, an escapement and oscillator that regulate it (foliot, pendulum or balance), and an indicating system of dial and hands or a bell. Its history runs from the large iron weight-driven clocks of the late thirteenth century to Renaissance spring-driven table clocks, the pendulum revolution of 1656, the factory clocks of the nineteenth century and electric and quartz clocks of the twentieth.
Domestic clocks also reflect regional furniture and decorative traditions — English longcase and bracket clocks, French pendules, Viennese regulators, Black Forest and American shelf clocks — and therefore record changing tastes as much as technical progress.
What to look for
- How the clock is powered: weights, spring barrel, fusee, electric coil.
- The oscillator: foliot, short pendulum, long seconds pendulum or balance.
- Whether it strikes: hour only (count wheel) or hours and quarters (rack striking).
- The maker or retailer's name on dial and movement, and any factory trademarks.
- Signs of alteration — replaced dials, converted escapements, 'married' cases.
Dating clues
- Before 1656 clocks used foliots or balances; after, most domestic clocks have pendulums.
- Anchor escapements spread after c. 1670; minute hands became common at the same time.
- Factory production in America and Germany transformed prices after c. 1840.
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:Verge escapementFoliot
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