Lot Essay
A remarkably similar orrery clock exists in the Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C., U.S.A., illustrated in Tardy, La Pendule Française, vol. II, p. 155
THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
A Directoire white marble, bronze and ormolu skeletonised orrery clock of long duration
UNSIGNED, CIRCA 1800
Details
A Directoire white marble, bronze and ormolu skeletonised orrery clock of long duration
Unsigned, circa 1800
The movement with pierced-out plates, four wheel train, horizontally positioned plain steel three-armed balance with blued hairspring to the pin wheel escapement of Sully-type, large going barrel and four plain back-pinned pillars, the white enamel Arabic annular dial with visible cadrature and pierced ormolu hands, subsidiary seconds ring above, the drive to the orrery taken directly from the second wheel pinion via a vertical arbor and with the provision of a manual hand crank positioned on the right side of the back-plate, the orrery itself of heliocentric form with an orbiting earth and six other planets, the whole orrery enclosed within a glass globe etched with the constellations and supported by three ormolu-draped bronze Herms on marble socles supported on a concave-sided triangular base with foliate ormolu moulding and supported on claw-and-ball feet; the globe possibly of later date
20 in. (52 cm.) high
Unsigned, circa 1800
The movement with pierced-out plates, four wheel train, horizontally positioned plain steel three-armed balance with blued hairspring to the pin wheel escapement of Sully-type, large going barrel and four plain back-pinned pillars, the white enamel Arabic annular dial with visible cadrature and pierced ormolu hands, subsidiary seconds ring above, the drive to the orrery taken directly from the second wheel pinion via a vertical arbor and with the provision of a manual hand crank positioned on the right side of the back-plate, the orrery itself of heliocentric form with an orbiting earth and six other planets, the whole orrery enclosed within a glass globe etched with the constellations and supported by three ormolu-draped bronze Herms on marble socles supported on a concave-sided triangular base with foliate ormolu moulding and supported on claw-and-ball feet; the globe possibly of later date
20 in. (52 cm.) high
Provenance
S.H. Hole
Sold in these rooms Monday 2 June 1980 for £7,500.
Sold in these rooms Monday 2 June 1980 for £7,500.
Literature
Tardy, La Pendule Française, Vol II, colour pl. XL, p. 204
F.J. Britten, Old Clocks and Their Makers, 3rd ed. 1911, p. 436, fig. 509, 5th ed. 1922, p. 454, fig. 598, 6th ed. 1932, p. 496, fig. 654
F.J. Britten, Old Clocks and Their Makers, 3rd ed. 1911, p. 436, fig. 509, 5th ed. 1922, p. 454, fig. 598, 6th ed. 1932, p. 496, fig. 654
Sale room notice
The globe is not original to this orrery.