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

Geneva, Hotel Des Bergues, Nov 14, 1993

LOT 6

Anonymous, late 16th. century. A very rare and fine gilt-metal miniature weightdriven striking and alarm wall dock.

CHF 50,000 - 60,000

Sold: CHF 52,900

C. Rectangular lantern form, flanked by part reeded, part fluted columns of square section, with moulded base on lion's paw feet, the side panels with hinged central doors and engraved with masks and scrolling foliage on a hatched ground, the dial plate en suite and the back panel centred with the initials. A.G. and I.H.S. incorporated with a Cross. Moulded top section surmounted by a grotesque mask and foliage pierced and engraved dome over the bell, flanked by four rampant lions, with turned button finial. Fixed loop and spikes for wall suspension. Brass clad lead weights.D. Silver chapter with engraved Roman numerals and half-hour arrow divisions. Single gilt brass hand. M. Three bar in line with additional bars at right angles for mounting the gilt count-wheel and alarm-setting disk. Part gilt trains with serrated steel drums for the ropes. Three-wheel going-train with verge escapement, single arm brass balance with sprung lever to lift the verge and disengage the pallets for setting to time. Simple C scroll cock. Striking train with four blade solid fly, the count-wheel with internai hour division slots and driven off the great wheel by a transverse mounted wheel with turret pinion. Alarm train with constantly engaged hour disk calibrated with Arabic numerals, with friction tight setting disk with a detent for releasing the transverse mounted locking arm. Crown wheel and verge controller with double-ended hammer. Both trains striking on a cloche bell. In very good condition with some restorations. Dims. 150 x 75 x 75 mm.


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Notes

Literature: A very similar dock was formerly in the Paul Garnier Collection, and is now in the Louvre, Paris, Inv. No. 7017 -see G. Migeon, Collection Paul Garnier, Paris, 1917, pp. 87-88, pl. XLIII, and Tardy La Pendule Française, Vol", Paris, 1981, p.49. Three examples of miniature wall docks (including this lot) and an empty case are known to have survived, all of virtually identical construction and therefore attributable to the same unknown maker. Migeon describes Garnier's dock as being of either French or Italian origin, and indeed it is difficult to state with certainty from which area of France they originated. In form they are similar to many of the docks produced in the latter part of the 16th. century, but the majority of surviving examples are spring-driven. It has been suggested that they may have been made in France for the Italian market.