An elegantly-attired gentleman seated on a stool rests his elbow on the barrel housing the dial and movement. On the side of the barrel, there is an inkstand and a satchel or sash reading: «La nature // est le trône // extérieur de // la magnifi- //cence divine // Buffon». (This is a quote from Georges Louis Leclerc, Count de Buffon, taken from his article on 'Nature' in Littré's French dictionary). Beneath, there is a rectangular base decorated on the front with porcelain plaques representing amorini. In the centre there is a gilded bronze appliqué with a scallop shell and flower basket. At the corners of the base there are four-petalled flowers. Four feet.

The dial is in white enamel and surrounded by beading. The hours are in black-painted Roman numerals. Two Breguet-style winding holes and hands.

French pendule de Paris round-plated movement with an eight-day spring-driven going train, anchor escapement and pendulum. The pendulum bears the number 2260. The striking train sounds the hours and half-hours on a bell using a countwheel. Jean (Giovanni) Vincenti was born in Corsica. He moved to Montbéliard in 1823, where he opened a factory making blancs-roulants. Other manufacturers had already established businesses in the city, among them Pierre-César Honoré Pons. The competition was so stiff that in 1828 he announced his bankruptcy. The factory manager, Jean Albert Roux, bought out some of Vincenti's shares, and the Vincenti & Cie clockmaking brand began producing movements again in 1829. Despite suffering ill health, the founder sought new market outlets. In Paris, he met Henri Laresche, who became his advisor. In 1834, just six years after the bankruptcy, the company won a silver medal in Paris. Jean Vincenti, however, did not live to enjoy the moment, having died a few months earlier in 1833. After his death, Albert Roux took over the company, which won another silver medal at the Paris Exposition of 1855. The firm remained in business until 1923.

In his Dictionnaire des horlogers français, Tardy mentions a G. Schmoll who was active in Paris in 1860 at Rue St-Louis, and between 1870 and 1900 at Rue Turenne. He describes him as a bronze founder.

The porcelain plaques were probably made in Sèvres because another garniture with similar materials has been preserved, signed on the movement by G. Schmoll with the silver medal stamp of Vincenti & Cie. Schmoll and the Vincenti factory must presumably have collaborated on a number of occasions because several clocks bearing the two marks have come under the hammer.

The character depicted is the Count of Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, born in 1707 in Montbard (France). He was a naturalist, botanist, mathematician, biologist, cosmologist and writer. Buffon set out to summarise all human knowledge on the natural world in his 44-volume work: Histoire Naturelle. He died in Paris in 1788.

The Romantic period saw greater realism in artwork. The themes of the clock cases, especially from 1830 onwards, tend to reflect more familiar stories. During the reigns of Charles X and Louis Philippe, there was a great demand for these items for the homes of the new bourgeoisie who had made their wealth from trade and finance. Mantelpieces commonly sported clock garnitures. The cases depicted scenes from literature and more recent history, almost always in bronze, sometimes decorated with porcelain.

Amelia Aranda Huete