This is what is known as a 'portico' clock. Four wooden columns, decorated with lemonwood filleting simulating grooves, support an entablature decorated on the front with marquetry depicting vegetal motifs. The base is ornamented in the same design.

The four columns enclose the dial, temperature-compensated pendulum and movement. The dial is in white enamel with the hours in Roman numerals. The hands are of Breguet type and there are two winding holes. The frame surrounding the dial is of bronze or gilded brass. The pendulum is of the same material and has a highly decorated bob embellished with floral motifs.

The clock has a round-plated pendule de Paris movement with an eight-day going train. It has an anchor escapement and a temperature-compensated pendulum. The striking train sounds the hours and half-hours, using a countwheel system. The clock bears the serial number 2042.

This portico clock is protected by a glass dome. Such domes were used in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to protect clock cases and movements from dust.

The signature on the dial (partly erased) links it to an important family of French clockmakers headed by Ferdinand Berthoud, who began making clocks in the eighteenth century. However, the fact that part of the signature is blurred suggests that it may be a later addition. The signature was made before the last firing of the glaze so that it could not be erased. It is also surprising that the rear plate of the movement is not signed.

This model, created during the reign of Louis XVI, was widely produced in France during the nineteenth century. It reflected the miniaturised Graeco-Roman architecture that was so popular in the society of the time. The first examples were in bronze, marble and glass. During the restoration of the French monarchy —and especially in the reign of Charles X— they were simpler and were manufactured mainly in veneered wood. They were covered with glass domes or dust covers to prevent dust from settling on the machinery. Very few domes have been preserved, which gives this clock an added value.

Amelia Aranda Huete