L\'ART DE L\'HORLOGERIE EN FRANCE DE ...

Geneva, Hotel Des Bergues, Nov 14, 1993

LOT 4

Germain Growel, Abbeville, circa 1580. Very fine and rare, square gilt bronze hourstriking table clock.

CHF 80,000 - 100,000

C. Two piece, with the figures of the four Evangelists set on the corners, the dome pierced and engraved with masks and "entrelacs", the side and bottom panels engraved with a floral decoration in a geometrical pattern, small fusee observation doors on opposite panels. Set on four lion ' couchant' feet. D. Small gilt brass with Roman numerals and touch pieces, engraved with a wind rose. Single steel hand. M. Square gilt brass full plate with square iron pillars, long thin fusees with gut-line on both the going and the striking iron trains, verge escapement with iron two arm balance wheel without spring, and "S"-shaped iron cock. Striking on a bell with the count-wheel beneath. Stamped signature on the reverse of the bottom plate. In very good condition. Dim. 85 x 105 mm.


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Notes

Two further clocks, virtually identical to the lot now offered for sale, are known to have survived. One, with an illegible signature, is in the Chauxde- Fonds Museum, and the other, signed Nicolas Plantard was formerly in the Schenk Collection. They are typical of the workmanship associated with Abbeville, notably the particularly simple style of the movement backplate, entirely devoid of decoration. Literature: The two examples mentioned above are illustrated in Tardy, La Pendule Française, Paris 1981, vo1.1, pp.76-78. There appears to be little known about the maker of this clock, although Baillie notes a watch by him preserved in the Palais du Cinquantenaire, Brussels. It has been suggested that he may have been associated with Plantard.