An unusual French engraved gilt brass carriage in the Ottoman styleUnsigned, Paris, late 19th centuryThe eight-day two train gong striking movement with platform lever escapement and stamped with serial number 439 to the lower left hand corner of the backplate, the circular silvered Roman numeral dial with blued steel moon hands inset within a shaped cartouche border into a rectangular silvered mask profusely chiselled and engraved in the Ottoman style with stylised bird inhabited floral scrolls onto a matted ground, the gilt brass case profusely engraved with conforming decoration incorporating serpent hunting a bird to the hinged scroll-shaped handle over shallow-hipped top capped with a spiral reeded button and with deer decorated panel infill terminating with lobed finials at the angles with shallow shaped crests between, with cavetto moulded cornice and angles with engraved spiral twist turned three-quarter columns, the sides decorated with mihrab designs centred with panels of serpents battling lions, the rear with further engraved panel incorporating a seated figure, on animal inhabited foliate scroll decorated swollen skirt base incorporating ogee bracket feet with shaped aprons between, 16cm (6.25ins) high excluding handle; with a later faux leather covered outer travelling case. Provenance: The beneficiary of the Estate of a private collector, East Midlands. The engraved decoration of the current lot is faithfully executed in the Turkish Ottoman style. With this in mind it may well be appropriate to speculate that case castings may well have been sent to the Middle-East to be engraved prior to the clock being built. Two related examples described as being made for the Turkish market were offered at Christies, King Street sale of The Dr. Eugene and Rose Antelis Collection of Important French Carriage Clocks Thursday 26th November 1998 (lots 152 and 153); however it is unlikely that the current lot was made for export to the Middle-East as the rear panel depicts a figure which is generally forbidden in Islamic art. It is therefore most likely that the present clock was made for European consumption during a time when the romantic exoticism of the Middle-East was extremely fashionable.
An unusual French engraved gilt brass carriage in the Ottoman styleUnsigned, Paris, late 19th centuryThe eight-day two train gong striking movement with platform lever escapement and stamped with serial number 439 to the lower left hand corner of the backplate, the circular silvered Roman numeral dial with blued steel moon hands inset within a shaped cartouche border into a rectangular silvered mask profusely chiselled and engraved in the Ottoman style with stylised bird inhabited floral scrolls onto a matted ground, the gilt brass case profusely engraved with conforming decoration incorporating serpent hunting a bird to the hinged scroll-shaped handle over shallow-hipped top capped with a spiral reeded button and with deer decorated panel infill terminating with lobed finials at the angles with shallow shaped crests between, with cavetto moulded cornice and angles with engraved spiral twist turned three-quarter columns, the sides decorated with mihrab designs centred with panels of serpents battling lions, the rear with further engraved panel incorporating a seated figure, on animal inhabited foliate scroll decorated swollen skirt base incorporating ogee bracket feet with shaped aprons between, 16cm (6.25ins) high excluding handle; with a later faux leather covered outer travelling case. Provenance: The beneficiary of the Estate of a private collector, East Midlands. The engraved decoration of the current lot is faithfully executed in the Turkish Ottoman style. With this in mind it may well be appropriate to speculate that case castings may well have been sent to the Middle-East to be engraved prior to the clock being built. Two related examples described as being made for the Turkish market were offered at Christies, King Street sale of The Dr. Eugene and Rose Antelis Collection of Important French Carriage Clocks Thursday 26th November 1998 (lots 152 and 153); however it is unlikely that the current lot was made for export to the Middle-East as the rear panel depicts a figure which is generally forbidden in Islamic art. It is therefore most likely that the present clock was made for European consumption during a time when the romantic exoticism of the Middle-East was extremely fashionable.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
