The revivalism of the mid-19th century drew on past styles. One of the most imitated, due to its elaborate cases, was the Louis-XIV style and more specifically furniture that copied the Boulle designs.

This wall clock on a bracket can be removed from it and be used as a table clock. The Neuchatel style case was widely imitated in French clockmaking. The case is rectangular with two large scrolls at the base and is crowned by an inverted bell. Two fluted pilasters flank the clock face. The whole case is made of strips of tortoiseshell and strengthened with chiselled and cut strips of brass or gilded copper. The case is finished with a full-relief figure – possibly Fame – made out of gilded bronze, playing a trumpet. Bronze legs. The sides of the case are also decorated with tortoiseshell plates and gilded bronze appliqués, and there are two glass windows to enable the watch movement and the pendulum swing to be seen.

The brass clock face is rectangular and is finished with a rounded arch at the top. The dial cartouches display the hours in black Roman numerals. There is a bronze chapter ring around them with chiselled Arabic numbers indicating the minutes. The inside of the clock face is chiselled. There is a brass plate with embossed sphinxes, masks and plants under the cartouches on the dial. The circle in the centre is white porcelain (the original plate where the signature of the clockmaker would go may have been lost).

The movement is French with two wheel trains. The wheel train with a spring drive keeps the watch running for eight days. Pin-pallet escapement and pendulum with bob finishing on the face of the Sun God. The striking system uses a gong. MADE IN FRANCE and the production number 25192 are engraved on the back plate.

The bracket is made of the same materials as the watch case: wood, tortoiseshell and bronze appliqués.

The case imitates the Louis XIV style, particularly the Boulle designs. These models reflect the opulence of the Sun King’s reign. Charles le Brun, Jean Berain, Daniel Marot and André Charles Boulle were the most famous designers.The latter compiled his knowledge in a treatise entitled Nouveaux Dessins de meubles et ouvrages de bronze et de marqueterie. Different artists – cabinetmakers, sculptors, smelters, metalworkers, gilders, etc. – worked on this case model. The straight lines of the case are decorated with bronze appliqués gilded in a clear Baroque style: Pilasters, columns, scrolls, figures, leaves, palmettes, masks, etc. There are bas-relief scenes under the hour dial or clock face. The case is crowned with mythological figures: Time or Fame. During the 19^th century, these cases were widely copied, partly due to decorative opulence coming back into fashion.

A photograph dated 1974 in the Curator Division’s archives shows that the case was adorned with a porcelain miniature with a portrait of a woman copied from Titian.

Amelia Aranda Huete