This French gilded bronze Louis XVI clock was purchased on 22 April 1971 from a shop in Madrid, according to a note on the back of a photograph preserved in the Curatorship archive.

The case features a plinth on which sits a censer from which strands of pearls and garlands of flowers fall. The whole rests on a curvilinear base decorated with vegetal motifs, garlands and bows. The plinth is flanked by two smaller censers, joined by garlands. The rest of the case is ornamented with chiselled vegetal motifs and a mask in the centre, above the dial. It rests on five feet.

The dial, surrounded by a frame decorated with ovals, is in white enamel with the hours in Roman numerals and the minutes in Arabic numerals, in intervals of five. Gilt bronze hands with pierced vegetal design. Two winding holes. The dial is protected behind a glazed window.

It has a French pendule de Paris movement with an eight-day spring-driven going train. The striking train sounds the hours and half-hours, using a countwheel system. Glass rear door to protect the movement.

The back plate has the numbers '1117' and a stamp on the metal reading: 'JAPY FRÈRES & CIE / GRE MED D'HONNEUR', with a cross in the centre, showing that the clock was manufactured sometime after 1855, when the firm was awarded a grand medal of honour at the Paris Universal Exposition.

Amelia Aranda Huete