Lot 158
158
AN EMPIRE ORMOLU, BRASS AND SPANISH BROCATELLE MARBLE MONTH-GOING ASTRONOMICAL SKELETON CLOCK
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 2… Read more PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTION (LOTS 156-163)
AN EMPIRE ORMOLU, BRASS AND SPANISH BROCATELLE MARBLE MONTH-GOING ASTRONOMICAL SKELETON CLOCK

VERNEUIL, CIRCA 1810

Details
AN EMPIRE ORMOLU, BRASS AND SPANISH BROCATELLE MARBLE MONTH-GOING ASTRONOMICAL SKELETON CLOCK
VERNEUIL, CIRCA 1810
CASE: the gilded openwork frame on Spanish brocatelle stepped rectangular plinth with ormolu ropework border, on bun feet DIALS: with spiral-beaded ormolu bezel to the white enamel Roman chapter ring signed Verneuil h.er, M.ien, gilt engine-turned centre set with an enamel seconds disc, blued steel Breguet hands, conforming bezel to the painted enamel moonphase above, with moons finely decorated en grisaille and ring calibrated for its age, subsidiary calendar rings below for the day (with its symbol), date and month/zodiac, blued steel hands MOVEMENT: with pierced inverted Y-shaped plates and spring barrels, the great wheels with nine crossings, the going train with pinwheel escapement regulated by a gridiron pendulum positioned above the clock, with adjustable crutchpiece and fronted by a thermometer with white enamel scale inscribed Elementa Suis Propriis Armis Victa, with count wheel strike to bell positioned on the back plate, the movement frame on brass blocks with milled levelling knobs; later brass-bound glazed case with giltwood base
29 in. (73.7 cm.) high (excluding case); 12¾ in. (32.4 cm.) wide; 6¼ in. (15.9 cm.) deep
Provenance
Christie's, London, 12 June 1996, lot 273.
From the collection of Léon Hatot.
Christie's, London, 4 July 2007, lot 136.
Special notice
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 20% on the buyer's premium.

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Lot Essay

There are two Verneuils recorded in Tardy's Dictionnaire des Horlogers Français, one at 42 Rue St Honoré and another (Verneuil Jeune) at Rue du Contrat Social in 1806 and at Faubourg St-Martin in 1815. It is probable that the present clock was made by the former.
Verneuil specialised in exceptional skeleton clocks, all of which bear a close family resemblance. Of varying complexity, they mostly include calendar work which is laid out in a similar way. Some have silvered dials and some white enamel as on the present example, and the majority rest on marble plinths.

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