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Lot Essay
An identical clock, signed Millet A Paris, was sold at Sotheby's, London 21 March 1986, lot 348, and another, unsigned, was sold in the same rooms, 16 March 1990, lot 199.
The stamp MB with the hammer emblem is unrecorded. The French word maillet or hammer in English could be the ancient surname from which Millet derives, and the use of this emblem illustrates not only the meaning of the family name but displays an important tool that would have been used in their trade. The delicately cast ormolu wall vitrine, lot 249, also carries the impressed stamps M B.
The Maison Millet, founded in 1853 by T. Millet, was first located at 11, rue Jacques-Coeur, Paris, then moved to 23, Boulevard Beaumarchais in 1902. Specialising in meubles et bronzes d'art, genre ancien et moderne, mainly copies of French 18th century models, Maison Millet was awarded many medals such as the 1889 Exposition Universelle Gold Medal, a Grand prix in 1900 and three Diplômes d'Honneur. In 1902, Millet was authorised by the curator of the Palais de Versailles to replicate Queen Marie-Antoinette's celebrated 'Grand cabinet à Bijoux'. An auction of their stock was held in 1906 and the firm finally ceased trading in 1918.
The ébauche maker Vincenti is recorded with premises in Paris at rue d'Anjou between 1850 and 1860 and the reference to '1855' records their award at the Universelle Exposition in Paris that year. The design and construction of the winding mechanism is noteworthy. Additional to the plates of the movement is a platform mounting holding the winding arbours at vertical (with the click mechanism, which holds the springs in tension), the power being driven through a pair of bevelled wheels taking the drive from the horizontal plain of the spring-barrel arbours through a 90°. Thereby, by simply lifting the domed cover, the clock can be wound.
Nereids are Sea-nymphs, the daughters of Nereus, the 'Old man of the Sea' in Greek mythology. With the Tritons, half men - half fish (Triton was the son of Neptune and Amphitrite), they are the escorts of Neptune and Galatea.
The stamp MB with the hammer emblem is unrecorded. The French word maillet or hammer in English could be the ancient surname from which Millet derives, and the use of this emblem illustrates not only the meaning of the family name but displays an important tool that would have been used in their trade. The delicately cast ormolu wall vitrine, lot 249, also carries the impressed stamps M B.
The Maison Millet, founded in 1853 by T. Millet, was first located at 11, rue Jacques-Coeur, Paris, then moved to 23, Boulevard Beaumarchais in 1902. Specialising in meubles et bronzes d'art, genre ancien et moderne, mainly copies of French 18th century models, Maison Millet was awarded many medals such as the 1889 Exposition Universelle Gold Medal, a Grand prix in 1900 and three Diplômes d'Honneur. In 1902, Millet was authorised by the curator of the Palais de Versailles to replicate Queen Marie-Antoinette's celebrated 'Grand cabinet à Bijoux'. An auction of their stock was held in 1906 and the firm finally ceased trading in 1918.
The ébauche maker Vincenti is recorded with premises in Paris at rue d'Anjou between 1850 and 1860 and the reference to '1855' records their award at the Universelle Exposition in Paris that year. The design and construction of the winding mechanism is noteworthy. Additional to the plates of the movement is a platform mounting holding the winding arbours at vertical (with the click mechanism, which holds the springs in tension), the power being driven through a pair of bevelled wheels taking the drive from the horizontal plain of the spring-barrel arbours through a 90°. Thereby, by simply lifting the domed cover, the clock can be wound.
Nereids are Sea-nymphs, the daughters of Nereus, the 'Old man of the Sea' in Greek mythology. With the Tritons, half men - half fish (Triton was the son of Neptune and Amphitrite), they are the escorts of Neptune and Galatea.