Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces

Geneva, Mar 16, 2014

LOT 312

IMPORTANT CONSULATE PERIOD PENDULE D'AUDIENCE WITH THERMOMETER Antide Janvier, No. 338. Made in 1801. Very fine and extremely rare, 8-day going, flame mahogany and gilt bronze Audience clock with 10-minute indication and Réaumur thermometer.

CHF 55,000 - 75,000

HKD 478,000 - 652,000 / USD 59,000 - 83,000

Sold: CHF 65,000

Rectangular, polished flame mahogany, clock at the top, gilt-bronze bezel with repeat anthemion decoration, thermometer aperture in the lower part, back with panel secured by a brass catch, extended forward base with two gilt-bronze lions couchant, gilt-bronze cylindrical feet with reeded capitals. White enamel with outer 10-minute chapter with Arabic numerals 0-10, five and ten-second divisions, aperture for the 12-hours with radial Roman numerals, outer 10-minute divisions, arrow pointer on the edge. Blued steel minute hand with circular counterpoise. Thermometer dial: white enamel with Arabic sector for Réaumur scale from -10 to +30 with record dates observed in Paris. Blued steel index hand. Circular 11 cm. brass, four cylindrical pillars, going barrel, anchor escapement, brass bob pendulum with steel rod, silk suspension. Réaumur thermometer: bimetallic steel and brass lever acting on a pivoted lever to which the hand is fixed.

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Image

Grading System
Grade:
Case: 2

Very good

Movement: 2*

Very good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense

Dial: 3-01

Good

HANDS Original

Notes

Both dials and movement signed Janvier, movement numbered. DIM. 33.5 x 18.5 x 16.5 cm. This very elegant and sophisticated clock is characteristic of the work of the famous horloger Antide Janvier (1751-1835). Janvier's reputation was built partly due to the development of the so-called "audience" clock. It is perhaps because of his liking for the short-lived "Revolutionary" decimal time system that he was able to make "audience" clocks so successfully. His experience at making clocks which combined both decimal and standard time in the same mechanism requiring the making of special wheel trains had already been devised by him and was therefore easily transferred to the making of these clocks. Whilst Janvier's "audience" clocks had nothing to do with the Revolutionary decimal time system which had ceased in 1795 after 18 months, the manufacturing principal was conveniently adaptable and in the case of "audience" clocks requiring a minute hand that revolved every 10-minutes and at the same time an hour display revolving in the usual 12-hours. An audience clock, as its name suggests, was intended to be used for measuring the time granted for an audience with a lawyer or high-ranking government official, usually ten minutes, during which the supplicant had to present his case. The case is of the present clock is very high quality and is likely to have been made by Jean-Ferdinand Schwerdfeger (1734-1818). A former cabinetmaker to Marie-Antoinette, he quickly became the preferred supplier to Antide Janvier. Upon the death of Schwerdfiger's wife, the inventory of his studio mentions at least eight cases intended for Janvier. Literature: This clock is illustrated and described in "Antide Janvier - His Life Through his Work", Michel Hayard, 2011, p. 273.