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拍品專文
Jean Antoine Lepine (1720-1814) was Watchmaker to Louis XV, Louis XVI and Napoleon I. He was highly talented and invented several of the refinements in French watchmaking in the second half of the 18th Century. In 1765 he married Andre Caron's daughter and worked as 'Caron et Lepine' until 1769.
There are several clocks by him in the British Royal collection and Jagger writes (C. Jagger, Royal Clocks, The British Monarchy and its Timekeepers, London, 1983 p.164) '[Lepine] was a favorite clockmaker in George IV's estimation and a number of clocks were bought from him'.
In 1783 Lepine left his business to his son-in-law, Claude Pierre Raguet, who continued to sign his clocks 'Lepine' and apparently begun numbering them from 4000.
The side winding of this clock is very unusual feature and a fairly involved function to achieve. The horizontal winding of the mainsprings is rotated ninety degrees through substantially made wheel and pinion work. This allows the movement to be wound through the side of the case, liberating the fine and elegant dial from prominent winding holes.
There are several clocks by him in the British Royal collection and Jagger writes (C. Jagger, Royal Clocks, The British Monarchy and its Timekeepers, London, 1983 p.164) '[Lepine] was a favorite clockmaker in George IV's estimation and a number of clocks were bought from him'.
In 1783 Lepine left his business to his son-in-law, Claude Pierre Raguet, who continued to sign his clocks 'Lepine' and apparently begun numbering them from 4000.
The side winding of this clock is very unusual feature and a fairly involved function to achieve. The horizontal winding of the mainsprings is rotated ninety degrees through substantially made wheel and pinion work. This allows the movement to be wound through the side of the case, liberating the fine and elegant dial from prominent winding holes.