French Ormolu Mantel Clock with Alabaster Base
You must be a subscriber, and be logged in to view price and dealer details.
Subscribe Now to view actual auction price for this item
When you subscribe, you have the option of setting the currency in which to display prices to $Au, $US, $NZ or Stg.
- 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.
- Alabaster - Alabaster is soft natural stone used for statuary, with a similar appearance to marble, but easier to work with. As it is softer than marble, an item made from alabaster can be scratched with a metal object, and an alabaster item does not polish to a high surface gloss like marble.
Alabaster objects can be semi-translucent. Alabaster occurs in a pure white form and also with veining from dirt. Colours vary from white through yellow and pink to brown. The veining is usually green or black but can be multicoloured.
Being semi-translucent, alabaster is often used for the bowls of figural lamps, with the figure itself being either alabaster or marble.
This item has been included into following indexes:
- clocks, mantle & shelf, material or style - gilt metal / ormolu 548
- clocks, mantle & shelf, period or origin
- clocks, type - four panel, four glass 34
Visually similar items
A late 19th century French porcelain inset gilt bronze mantel clock, with a Roman numeral dial, anchor escapement, count wheel strike on one bell, inset with panels depicting courting couples and foliate cartouches, 34.5 cm high
A black marble salon clock, urn surmounted. 50 cm high. (No pendulum and key).
A rouge marble and gilt bronze mantle clock signed Chaude, Palais Royal, French, circa 1865, 42 cm high, 27 cm wide, 19 cm wide
A 19th century French mantel clock, the black slate case surmounted by a gilt bronze figure group of an 18th century woman kneeling and sewing the buckle on the shoe of an officer in naval dress, the square slate case embellished with ormolu festoons, styl