Beschreibung:

A FINE AND VERY RARE FRENCH EMPIRE BRASS INLAID MAHOGANY MANTEL CLOCK WITH MECHANICAL ORRERYUNSIGNED, ATTRIBUTED TO THE WORKSHOP, OF ANTIDE JANVIER, PARIS, CIRCA 1810The clock with four pillar twin going barrel movement of at least eight-day duration incorporating anchor escapement regulated by lenticular bob pendulum with knife-edge suspension and outside countwheel striking sounding the hours and a single blow at the half hours on a bell mounted behind the movement, the 4.75 inch slightly convex white enamel Roman numeral dial with Arabic fifteen minutes within the outer minute track and pierced and chased gilt brass hands, set behind a hinged engine-milled convex glazed bezel, the mahogany case of four-glass type with brass edged platform upstand supporting the orrery/tellurian mechanism over scroll dentil cornice and brass ogee fillet mounded glazed front aperture interrupted by the clock dial and bezel and with brass diamond lozenge motif to the upper rail, the sides with conforming glazed panels and lozenge inlay and the rear with rectangular glazed door set within the frame of the case, on cavetto moulded skirt base, the orrery/tellurian set on a rectangular brass plate with vertical take-off from behind the clock dial driving a gear train to advance the hands on two small silvered subsidiary dials set towards the front margin, with the first labelled SOIR/MATIN and annotated with Arabic twenty-four hour chapters and the second with days-of-the-week in French, with further cocked wheelwork to drive the principal elements of the rotating orrery assembly above, comprising a gilt sphere representing the sun with two small satellites labelled Mercure and Venus over geared train to drive their motion as well as for the tellurian, the latter constructed with a 0.875 inch terrestrial globe applied with 12 hand coloured paper gores annotated with principal land masses and oceans annotated in French and Paris marked with a raised brass pin, rotating on an inclined axis within a gilt brass meridian ring and with geared orbiting lunar satellite revolving to provide moonphase indication over a silvered ring inscribed route de la lune par courier, 29 jours 12 heures 44 minutes and labelled Noeud (for node) twice at opposing ends of one of the crossings, the whole orrery/tellurian assembly rotating annually around the central solar axis and fitted with a pin pointer to the end opposing the tellurian for reading against a silvered calendar scale, annotated with the months of the year in French and divided for each day, with Janvier also including an aperture to show the year labelled 18, the front of the brass base mounting plate with small square to manually advance the mechanism. 52.5cm (20.75ins) high, 22.5cm (8.75ins) wide, 16cm (6.25ins) deep. The form, specification and layout of the orrery and tellurian assembly of the current lot can be closely compared to that of a 'heliocentric planetarium' signed 'Janvier au Louvre' which was sold at Christies, King Street, London sale of Important Clocks, Marine Chronometers and Watches 12th June 1996 (lot 269) for £28,750. Another very closely related mechanical orrery, this time surmounting a mantel-type timepiece, was also sold at Christies, King Street sale of IMPORTANT CLOCKS, INCLUDING A FINE COLLECTION OF INDUSTRIAL, AUTOMATON AND ASTRONOMICAL CLOCKS Wednesday 4th July 2007 (lot 122) for £28,000 hammer. Although this second example was signed 'Baltazar Pere' the form of the timepiece (simple rectangular form incorporating recumbent sphinxes) was that of an Antide Janvier 'audience clock'. In addition to these timepieces, distinctive elements, such as the inclusion of Mercury and Venus alongside the tellurian, can also be observed in Janvier's 'pendule a sphere' now residing in the collection of the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers, Paris. Antide Janvier was born in Brive, near St. Claude in the Jura mountains in 1751. His father was a clockmaker who, after observing Antide