98th Auction
2018/11/10
Lot 295
Baltazar Martinot à Paris, Height 330 mm, circa 1680
An important Louis XIV-style travel clock with half hour/hour strike and an early version of the balance spring, a so-called "Pendule de voyage"; the case is ornamented in André Charles Boulle’s typical style.
Case: ebonized oak wood, red tortoiseshell veneer, brass inlays, glazed front and back, 1 hammer / 1 bell. Dial: gilt brass, applied silvered chapter ring, signed. Movm.: lyre-shaped brass full plate movement, 2 barrels for going and striking train, count wheel, verge escapement, large three-arm steel balance, flat blued balance spring.
The typical, convex-shaped Louis XIV-style case rests on a moulded base with a drawer and four bun feet. The walls are covered with tortoiseshell veneer and embellished with exquisite "première-partie" brass inlays of arabesque leaves. The bell on top of the case sits in a firegilt dome with oak ornaments and a vase finial. The gilt brass dial has the same convex shape as the case and is lovingly engraved with acanthus and a mascaron; it features an applied, silvered chapter ring with Roman champlevé hours. A small engraved adjustment dial is positioned at the top end of the dial.
Balthazar Martinot II (1636–1714) can be considered the most famous of a large family of clock- and watchmakers. The eldest son of Balthazar Martinot I and his wife Catherine Hubert was born in Rouen in 1636 and died at Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1714. Martinot was established in Paris in 1660; he inherited the title of Watchmaker to Queen Anne of Austria upon the death of bis father-inlaw, Pierre Belon in 1665 and was later appointed watchmaker to the royal council. An inventory of 1700 revealed that he held the largest stock of clocks in Paris, while five years previously he had organized a significant lottery at court in association with his colleague, Nicholas Gribelin. Martinot was patronized by the most important members of society including Louis XIV, the Dauphin, and many of the wealthy amongst the aristocracy. The watches and clocks of Martinot are now installed in some of the world’s finest collections including the Musée du Louvre, Musée de Cluny and the Musée de Pau and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Source: Tardy, "Dictionnaire des Horlogers Francais", Paris 1972, pages 442ff.
We presented a similar clock with short pendulum and balance by Isaac Thuret which was decorated with Boulle Marquetry during our 95th auction in May 2017 (lot 363). Another similar clock by Isaac Thuret is illustrated and described in H.M. Vehmeyer "Clocks their origin and development 1320-1880", vol II, Wilsele 2004, p 836f.
An important Louis XIV-style travel clock with half hour/hour strike and an early version of the balance spring, a so-called "Pendule de voyage"; the case is ornamented in André Charles Boulle’s typical style.
Case: ebonized oak wood, red tortoiseshell veneer, brass inlays, glazed front and back, 1 hammer / 1 bell. Dial: gilt brass, applied silvered chapter ring, signed. Movm.: lyre-shaped brass full plate movement, 2 barrels for going and striking train, count wheel, verge escapement, large three-arm steel balance, flat blued balance spring.
The typical, convex-shaped Louis XIV-style case rests on a moulded base with a drawer and four bun feet. The walls are covered with tortoiseshell veneer and embellished with exquisite "première-partie" brass inlays of arabesque leaves. The bell on top of the case sits in a firegilt dome with oak ornaments and a vase finial. The gilt brass dial has the same convex shape as the case and is lovingly engraved with acanthus and a mascaron; it features an applied, silvered chapter ring with Roman champlevé hours. A small engraved adjustment dial is positioned at the top end of the dial.
Balthazar Martinot II (1636–1714) can be considered the most famous of a large family of clock- and watchmakers. The eldest son of Balthazar Martinot I and his wife Catherine Hubert was born in Rouen in 1636 and died at Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1714. Martinot was established in Paris in 1660; he inherited the title of Watchmaker to Queen Anne of Austria upon the death of bis father-inlaw, Pierre Belon in 1665 and was later appointed watchmaker to the royal council. An inventory of 1700 revealed that he held the largest stock of clocks in Paris, while five years previously he had organized a significant lottery at court in association with his colleague, Nicholas Gribelin. Martinot was patronized by the most important members of society including Louis XIV, the Dauphin, and many of the wealthy amongst the aristocracy. The watches and clocks of Martinot are now installed in some of the world’s finest collections including the Musée du Louvre, Musée de Cluny and the Musée de Pau and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Source: Tardy, "Dictionnaire des Horlogers Francais", Paris 1972, pages 442ff.
We presented a similar clock with short pendulum and balance by Isaac Thuret which was decorated with Boulle Marquetry during our 95th auction in May 2017 (lot 363). Another similar clock by Isaac Thuret is illustrated and described in H.M. Vehmeyer "Clocks their origin and development 1320-1880", vol II, Wilsele 2004, p 836f.
Sold
estimated
6.000—12.000 €
Price realized
7.500 €