Breguet, the inventor of the carriage clock, did not make very many. Only about 200 carriage clocks are mentioned in the registers. Aside from three in the second (Gide) register, the first carriage clock he made was for Napoleon Bonaparte (see the "Art of Breguet" sale, Antiquorum, lot 10). Of all Breguet carriage clocks, his humpback model seems to be eternally popular, being reproduced even recently. Its shape has inspired other firms, such as Cole or Jump in England, two hundred years afterts creation. Only a few years ago, Breguet issued a very small series of humpback silver carriage clocks, practicaly identical in appearance to the earlier ones. During his lifetime Breguet made very few, probably no more than ten. At the time they, such top quality carriage clocks (note the ruby duplex and the double gongs for hour striking in this one) were among the most expensive pieces produced by Breguet.PaschkoffAn old noble Russian family that can be traced back to the time of Ivan I. The family was wealthy and influential, for at the end of the eighteenth century, a Paschkoff purchased land in Moscow with the express permission of Czar Peter I. In the early nineteenth century, the Paschkoffs commissioned the architect Bazhenoff to build them a magnificent house there.This house, requisitioned by the State after the Revolution, eventually became the Russian State Library. For many, however, it remains "the Paschkoff house".During the nineteenth century, the family was close to many important political and artistic figures. It is known, for example, that the poet Pushkin and his wife Natalia Gontcharova were friendly with a member of the Paschkoff family. Given the dates (Pushkin was killed in a duel in 1837, at the age of 38) this friend was very likely the original owner of this exceptional clock.Property of a European Gentleman