Lot Essay
Raingo was of French extraction and fled (probably for political reasons) to Gand, Belgium at the beginning of the 19th. century and almost certainly remained there for the rest of his life. He is also recorded as being clockmaker to the Duc de Chatres in 1823. The company subsequently became Raingo Frères circa 1825 and operated from various Paris addresses.
The word orrery is defined by H. Alan Lloyd op. cit. as a mechanical device for portraying the relative motions of the sun, moon and the earth, with sometimes the addition of the planets; operated either by hand or clockwork. The first known English example was made by George Graham circa 1710 and had the joint signatures of Tompion and Graham. History has it that John Rowley subsequently copied Graham's orrery (four examples of Rowley's clocks exist in the Old Ashmolean Musuem). One of these was bought by the 4th. Earl of Orrery and it is purported that it was the famous essayist Sir Richard Steele who then suggested the instrument should thereafter be called an orrery, in the Earl's honour!
It is not known how many examples of Raingo's orrery exist, perhaps 15-20 still survive. Those that are known take on the same basic form of a tellurium with the clock movement suspended below within a rotunda. Most examples have amboyna-veneered cases with rich ormolu mounts. A very few have large similarly veneered plinths with musical movements inside. Two other variants are constructed entirely of ormolu and bronze, one is housed in the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Brussels, the other in a private collection.
It is known that Antide Janvier, 1751-1835, had a degree of involvement with the construction of these instruments and indeed an almost identical example to the present clock survives with the signature Antide Janvier à l'Institute. Whether all of Raingo's telleria were actually made by Janvier is unlikely but the catalyst most certainly came from Janvier's masterpiece, the celebrated Sphère Mouvante.
The closest example to the present clock is in the library at Windsor Castle and almost all of the remaining examples are now in museums around the world
The word orrery is defined by H. Alan Lloyd op. cit. as a mechanical device for portraying the relative motions of the sun, moon and the earth, with sometimes the addition of the planets; operated either by hand or clockwork. The first known English example was made by George Graham circa 1710 and had the joint signatures of Tompion and Graham. History has it that John Rowley subsequently copied Graham's orrery (four examples of Rowley's clocks exist in the Old Ashmolean Musuem). One of these was bought by the 4th. Earl of Orrery and it is purported that it was the famous essayist Sir Richard Steele who then suggested the instrument should thereafter be called an orrery, in the Earl's honour!
It is not known how many examples of Raingo's orrery exist, perhaps 15-20 still survive. Those that are known take on the same basic form of a tellurium with the clock movement suspended below within a rotunda. Most examples have amboyna-veneered cases with rich ormolu mounts. A very few have large similarly veneered plinths with musical movements inside. Two other variants are constructed entirely of ormolu and bronze, one is housed in the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Brussels, the other in a private collection.
It is known that Antide Janvier, 1751-1835, had a degree of involvement with the construction of these instruments and indeed an almost identical example to the present clock survives with the signature Antide Janvier à l'Institute. Whether all of Raingo's telleria were actually made by Janvier is unlikely but the catalyst most certainly came from Janvier's masterpiece, the celebrated Sphère Mouvante.
The closest example to the present clock is in the library at Windsor Castle and almost all of the remaining examples are now in museums around the world