A RARE BELGIAN GLASS-DIALLED DUTCH-STRIKING SKELETON CLOCK

THE PROPERTY OF A BELGIAN INSTITUTION

Details

A RARE BELGIAN GLASS-DIALLED DUTCH-STRIKING SKELETON CLOCK
H. Sarton. circa 1790

the triangular reverse-painted glass dial signed H. Sarton Horloger, Méchanicien de S.A. à Liège beneath the lunar aperture displaying age and phase of moon with starburst painted disc applied with engraved gilt-brass moon-masks, flanked by subsidiary calendar rings for day of week and month with relevant number of days, the main dial with Roman and Arabic chapter ring having inner concentric calendar ring, entrelac-pierced and chased ormolu hour and minute hands, counterpoised arrowhead blued steel sweep centre seconds hand and serpentine arrowhead calendar hand, the centre glazed to show the skeletonised motion work, regulation ring above, the twin barrel movement with skeletonised plates, pin wheel escapement with silk suspended pendulum, dutch strike on two bells via vertically mounted blued steel hammer arbor with the rack-and-snail work mounted on the backplate, the movement supported on two brass columns and a stepped black marble plinth on milled bun feet; associated brass-lined glazed cover
18½in. (47cm.) high

Literature

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
Derek Roberts, Continental and American skeleton clocks, Schiffer, 1989, pp. 171-184, fig. 176

Lot Essay

For biographical notes on Sarton see lot 336.
The present clock is by far and away the most individual type of skeleton clock made by Sarton with the possible exception of his swinging-dial masterpiece made for the Duke of Lorraine in 1778. Painted glass dials seem to have been a Belgian speciality and it is just possible that this style was the pre-cursor to the glass-plated skeleton clocks adopted by the French for a short period of time.

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