Pocket Watches · Watch
Watch by Christophe Noytoulon, France, 1585–1600
- Maker / attribution
- Christophe Noytoulon (Horloger)
- Date
- 1585–1600
- Historical period
- Renaissance Horology (1400 – 1600)
- Country of origin
- France
- Place
- Lyon
- Object type
- Watch
- Materials / technique
- silver, brass
- Dimensions
- height 6,5 cm; width 3,3 cm; thickness 2,2 cm
- Holding institution
- Musée du Louvre, Paris
- Accession / object no.
- OA 10049
- Credit line
- Musée du Louvre, Département des Objets d'art du Moyen Age, de la Renaissance et des temps modernes
- Catalogue title (original)
- Montre ovale (French)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Musée du Louvre, Paris (object number OA 10049), this is a watch by Christophe Noytoulon, made in Lyon, France, dated 1585–1600. The Atlas places it in the Renaissance Horology period (1400 – 1600) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: silver, brass. Recorded dimensions: height 6,5 cm; width 3,3 cm; thickness 2,2 cm. The record is illustrated with 6 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
Catalogue description — Musée du Louvre (French)
Montre ovale ; boîtier muni de deux couvercles montés à charnière. Pourtour orné d'une frise. Couvercle du cadran figurant parmi les rinceaux fleuris Ponce Pilate se lavant les mains : le gouverneur assis tourne la tête vers deux conseillers, tenant ses mains au-dessus d'un bassin tendu par un serviteur agenouillé. Couvercle du fond pareillement orné de rinceaux montrant le gouverneur debout auprès du Christ et d'un soldat, l'arrestation se déroulant sous les yeux d'un garçon et d'un vieillard. Carrure décorée d'une frise composée de rinceaux fleuris ponctués de dauphins et de chimères. A l'intérieur des valves, guirlandes de feuillage gravées ; pendant décoré de fleurs ; bouton mouluré. Cadran à double cercle d'heures (I à XII et 13 à 24) ; au centre, vue de village avec un paysan tenant un bâton ; autour, un mascaron, un vase, des têtes d'oiseaux. Echappement à roue de rencontre, fusée avec corde à boyau. Coq et coqueret gravés et ajourés de rinceaux.
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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
Dating and period as catalogued (French)
Epoque / période : Henri IV (1589-1610) (Occident->Renaissance->dynastie des Bourbons) · · Date de création/fabrication : 1585 - 1600
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.
Materials and techniques as catalogued (French)
Matériau : argent · Matériau : laiton
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.
Inscriptions & marks
Signature : ; mouvement signé : NOYTOULON
Provenance
Collection Paul Garnier (1834-1916), vente à Paris Drouot, 18-23 décembre 1916, n° 131 ; collection Claudius Côte (1881-1956), Lyon ; legs Mme Marie-Françoise Côte, accepté par décret du 9 juillet 1961
Historical context
Renaissance Horology (1400 – 1600)
Spring power makes clocks portable; Nuremberg and Augsburg produce the first watches; the Prague Orloj is built.
The first portable spring-driven timepieces were made in southern Germany, France and Italy. They had iron or brass verge movements with a foliot or small balance and a stackfreed or fusee, indicated hours only, and were worn as pendants — luxury objects more than precise instruments.
Read the period in the timelineMore pocket watches from this periodEarlier: Medieval Period
Atlas type guide
Early spring-driven watches
Portable spring-driven timepieces appeared in southern Germany, France and Italy in the early sixteenth century; Peter Henlein of Nuremberg is traditionally credited, although the historical record is complex. These early watches were worn as pendants or carried, had iron or brass movements with a verge escapement and a foliot or small balance, and used a stackfreed or fusee to equalise spring force. They indicated hours only and were notoriously inaccurate.
From the later sixteenth century watches were made in Blois, Paris, Geneva, London and Augsburg in oval, octagonal, cruciform, skull and other 'form' cases of rock crystal, gilt brass, silver and enamel. They were jewellery and status objects as much as timekeepers.
What to look for
- A single hour hand and often a touch-pin hour ring for feeling the time.
- Stackfreed (a cam and spring) instead of a fusee on German watches.
- Pierced and engraved cocks over the balance, fine gut fusee lines.
- Rock-crystal, enamelled or engraved form cases.
Dating clues
- Drum-shaped German watches: c. 1530–1580.
- Oval and form watches: c. 1580–1650.
- Before c. 1675 there is no balance spring; watches can vary by many minutes a day.
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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