Beschreibung:

A rare blue and gilt lacquered 'religieuse' table clock Unsigned, probably French provincial circa 1665-75 The rectangular movement with four baluster turned pillars pinned through the backplate, the single tandem spring barrel with two great wheels driving both the going train with verge escapement regulated by short pendulum with silk suspension and cycloidal cheeks and strike train with outside countwheel, elaborate scroll pierced and chased steel gate and vertical hammer sounding on an external bell mounted behind the tympanum, the 9 inch wide dial with concentric stylised rose and fleur-de-lys engraved brass centre within pewter Roman numeral chapter ring with asterisk half hour markers and Arabic five minute cartouche numerals to outer track, the angles engraved with stylised foliate scroll motifs on a matted ground and with pierced brass hands, the case finished with mid blue ground 'lacca povera' type decoration with gilt moulded arched tympanum above complex moulded cornice and front door with further raised mouldings to the glazed dial aperture and relief cut leaf decoration to angles, the sides with slender break-arch glazed apertures, the rear with plain panel door, on gilt ogee moulded shallow skirt base, 47cm (18.5ins) high. The movement of the current lot can be closely compared with a movement dating to around 1662 by Isaac Thuret, Paris illustrated and discussed in Plomp, Reinier Early French Pendulum Clocks 1658-1700 page 31 (Fig. 50). Both the current lot and the movement by Thuret share the same configuration and details such as simple double footed back cock bridge and unnumbered countwheel. Plomp notes that such movements were initially made in accordance with the prototypes from Coster - with plates measuring approximately 11cm high by 9cm wide enclosing central vertically aligned going train and offset strike train with locking of the countwheel via a 'hanging' detent. However within a few years the design had been 'tweaked' a little by placing the escapement centrally between the plates (resulting in an offset winding square) and control of the striking directly via decorative pierced steel detents. The dial of the current lot is unusual with the outer track of Arabic five minute cartouche numerals resembling those found on late 17th century watch dials whilst the brass hands are essentially simplified versions of those seen on higher status Paris made clocks of the period (see Plomp, Reinier Early French Pendulum Clocks 1658-1700 page 40 Fig. 50). The case follows the standard form (with left-hand opening front door, arched panel pediment concealing a bell, slender break-arch side windows and plain rear door) however the lacquer decoration is highly unusual resembling Venetian 'lacca povera' with the pigment and gilding applied over gesso incorporating some low relief sculpted detail to the angles of the front door. Condition report disclaimer