PAUL GARNIER, HORLOGER DU ROI, PARIS, NO. 1797. DATED 1844

Paul Garnier (1801-1869) is perhaps most famous for his contributions to the development of the French carriage clock industry but he also made a number of very fine quality mantel regulators. More usually these take the form of tall arched black marble timepieces (also with Mahler-type pendulums) such as the example sold Christies London,14 June 2000, lot 58 (£17,625). The present clock is altogether grander and more sophisticated in its functions. Garnier appears to have started signing his clocks 'Horloger du Roi' circa 1835 (see C. Allix, 'Paul Garnier Revisited', Antiquarian Horology, spring 1993, p. 423). In 1839 he sold a maximum-minimum thermometer to the Duke of Orléans. In 1844 -- the year this clock was made -- he is known to have made a clock for Versailles (Allix, p. 423). Whether this is the clock in question cannot be established but it is certainly of the quality one would expect for such a commission.