Louis-Philippe French Portico Clock
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French portico clock c.1840 an elegant French portico clock of the Louis-Philippe period. palisander case inlaid with floral kingwood marquetry. ormolu mounts, the dial engine turned and silvered. A superb gilt floral medallion pendulum. Raised on disc feet. 42 cm
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- Engine Turned - Engine turning is a decorative technique used on metal surfaces to create intricate curving or geometric pattern. The process involves cutting a series of lines into the surface of the metal using a rose engine or decoration lathe which rotates the metal as it cuts, allowing the operator to create a repeating pattern that covers the entire surface. The resulting surface has a shimmering, reflective quality that is often described as "engine turned." Where an engine turned item has been enamelled, the term used to describe the decoration is usually guilloche.
Engine turning was originally developed to decorate metal objects such as firearms, scientific instruments, and other metal objects that required precise and elegant design. - Amaranth / Purpleheart / Palisander - Amaranth, also called "purpleheart" and palisander is a hardwood obtained flowering plants in tropical regions of Central and South America, where they grow in rainforests. When the trees are cut, the timber turns from a dark brown to a rich purple colour. It is mainly used for veneering and decorative features on furniture, and is extremely dense when dry.
- Pendulum - The pendulum was discovered around 1602 by Galileo Galilei, and was adopted for time keeping by the Dutch mathematician and natural philosopher, Christiaan Huygens, who excelled in astronomy, physics, and horology.
The pendulum comprises a metal rod usually of brass or steel with a metal disk, known as a bob, at the end. The movement of the pendulum is driven by weights or a spring, and as a pendulum swings in a regular arc, it was found accuracy could be controlled to within a few seconds a week.
Timekeeping can be adjusted by changing the height of the bob on the rod, making the pendulum either swing slower or faster.
The disadvantage of the pendulum was that changes in temperature also changed the length of the pendulum, interfering with the accuracy of the clock, and so in the 18th century two types of mercurial pendulums were invented which countered the movement in the steel rod.
The pendulum was the world's most accurate timekeeping technology until the invention of the quartz clock, regulated by a quartz crystal, in 1927. - Ormolu - Ormolu was popular with French craftsmen in the 18th and 19th century for ornamental fittings for furniture, clocks and other decorative items. True ormolu is gilt bronze, that is bronze that has been coated with gold using a mercury amalgam. Due to the health risks associated with using mercury, this method of creating ormolu was discontinued in France in the 1830s. A substitute was developed consisting of about 75% copper and 25% zinc, however it was inferior to the bronze version. It was often lacquered to prevent it tarnishing.
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