Lot 24

An exceptional pair of French gilt-brass, enamel, champlevé enamel and split pearl-set quarter striking small carriage clocks, probably made for the Chinese market

NOS.1674 & 1675. CIRCA 1890

Details

An exceptional pair of French gilt-brass, enamel, champlevé enamel and split pearl-set quarter striking small carriage clocks, probably made for the Chinese market
Nos.1674 & 1675. Circa 1890
Each with anglaise style cases, their base, tops and handles decorated with polychrome champlevé enamel, similarly enamelled capitals to the pilasters lined with split pearls, each side panel painted with a lady in a colourful summer dress wearing a bonnet, one holding a posy of summer flowers, the other with a dove resting on her hand, both within garden settings and standing against a red guilloché enamel background, the rear door panels painted with a spray of summer flowers with butterflies, the dials with white enamelled Roman chapter ring with finely pierced brass hour and minute hands and blued steel counter balanced sweep centre seconds, within a split pearl-set border and with a garland of flowers painted above, the alarm dial below flanked by Cupid with his bow and arrow approaching a young girl on a garden seat scantily clad in a blue robe, each movement with cut bimetallic compensated balance to silvered platform lever escapement, quarter strike, repeat and alarm on two gongs, the back plates sequentially stamped 1674 & 1675, the bases with two position selection levers for Quarters & Silent, the base plates also sequentially numbered 1 74 & 2 75
4½in. (11.3cm.) high (2)

Lot Essay

No comparable examples to this exceptional pair of carriage clocks are recorded. Pairs of carriage clocks are exceedingly rare, whilst the combination of decorative materials used on the present examples (guilloché enamel side panels set in a case decorated with champlevé enamel and embellished with split pearls) appears to be unique. The case style is known and is customarily seen in this diminuitive size, with champlevé enamel and split pearls. See for example Fanelli & Terwilliger A Century of Fine Carriage Clocks, New York 1987, p.122. A comparable example was sold Christie's South Kensington The Dr Eugene and Rose Antelis Collection of Important French Carriage Clocks, 26 November 1998, lot 179. The sweep centre seconds hand may also be seen on these examples. Its presence suggests that the current pair were intended for the Chinese market.

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