Lot Essay
Francois-Joseph Hartmann was recorded at 9, rue de Vannes, Paris, where he rented a shop. After his marriage he moved to 54 rue Saint-Eustache until July 1814 when he purchased Hôtel d'Italie, in the same street. Tardy also records that from 1810-30 he worked from rue Tiquetonne. By that time Hartmann had been appointed Horloger-Mécanicien pour l'Observatoire et la Marine. His few known clocks display a remarkable quality often using enamel dials by Joseph Coteau (1740-1812). A clock by Hartmann with both Gregorian and Republican calendar dials sold Bonhams, London, 28 June 2011, lot 81, other examples are illustrated in P. Kjellberg, "Encyclopédie de la Pendule Française du Moyen Age au XXe Siècle", 1997, pp. 281, 328 and 400).