Lot 151

Jean-Pierre Gregson

Les Quatre Saisons

A magnificent Parisian coach clock of museum-quality, with pull quarter repeater, quarter strike and alarm

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The case of the coach clock features an openwork pattern and is elaborately decorated with grotesques. The back shows four medallions with personifications of the seasons: Venus, goddess of love (Spring), Ceres, goddess of agriculture (Summer), Bacchus, god of wine with drinking bowl (Autumn) and Vulcan, god of fire, depicted as an old man suffering from the cold, symbolizing Winter.
The Mathematisch-Physikalische Salon in Dresden holds a carriage clock with an almost identical case and dial, while the movement, however, was made in southern Germany. The casemaker must have been known far across the borders, due to his extremely skilled craftsmanship.

Jean-Pierre Gregson originally came from England; he was appointed clockmaker to the royal court in Paris in 1776. The importance of his position was corroborated by the fact that in 1786 he was appointed a member of the commission for the establishment of a royal manufactory. The other members were the most famous makers of France - Breguet, Berthoud and Lepaute. Gregson was one of the first makers of his time to use Lépine's bridge caliber. In 1790 Gregson returned to London to be safe. He established a new workshop and called it "Gregson London". He continued to build French style clocks and kept his old numbering system.