An inscription on the back of a photograph of the clock from the Conservatory Archives states that on 20 October 1970, the Board of Works agreed to purchase this French Empire style clock for 70,000 pesetas. It was acquired from the auctioneers Policarpo Zabala and Pilar Ilarri, who ran an establishment at 12, Calle Ribera de Curtidores in Madrid.

The Empire style lasted from 1800 to the end of the reign of Charles X of France, encompassing the Consulate and the reigns of Napoleon I (1804-1815), Louis XVIII (1815-1824) and Charles X (1824-1830).

A female figure, in classical attire, is shown sitting on a French Empire style couch with two ample cushions, feeding her baby. The couch rests on four legs in the shape of griffins. The sides of the couch are decorated with palmettes. The entire set sits on a plinth housing the clockface and movement. The plinth, supported on four goat legs, is decorated on the front with motifs of children playing musical instruments with their toys beside them. The sides are adorned with billy goats. A garland on the front, with rosettes and plant features complete the decoration of the case. Veined green marble pedestal on four acorn-shaped legs.

The dial is in white porcelain. The hours are in Arabic numerals and the minutes indicated in increments of 15 minutes. The hands are gilded. Two winding holes and arbours. The dial bears the maker's name: Gaulin à Paris.

The movement is French with round plates and two trains: the going train and the strike train. The movement or going train is spring driven and keeps the clock running for eight days. Anchor-type escapement and pendulum. The strike train chimes the hours and half-hours with a countwheel system and bell.

Tardy lists Antoine Gaulin as being a master clockmaker in Paris in 1788. From 1789 to 1830, he had a workshop at 36 Quai de la Mégisserie. He was also mentioned in the Almanach du commerce de Paris, des départemens de l'empire français et des principales villes del monde of 1811. Gaulin is known to have worked with bronziers of the calibre of Thomire, although we have no record of who made the case for this clock.

It is a typical model of Empire style table clock depicting everyday scenes. The couch is inspired by the elegant furniture made by Jacob or Molitor for the Emperor's family. The exceptional quality of the design and the choice of furniture suggest that this genre scene represents some important personality. The everydayness of the scene is underlined by the children on the plinth playing with automatons and musical instruments.

The model was repeated on several occasions since the cases were already mass-produced given the high level of demand for the item. Kjellberg has a photograph of another similar clock, bearing the name Bassot à Paris on the dial which is currently in the May de Muizon collection, Senlis, p. 390. Elke Niehüser has a similar example, dated ca. 1810 with a bronze case, in her book French Bronze Clocks (Schiffer Publishing Ltd., USA, 1999: p. 178).

Amelia Aranda Huete