The present clock is highly unusual and a very rare survival, being both superbly decorated yet designed for travel. For the period, it is a fine precision clock. The Robin escapement was invented by Robert Robin in 1791 and was specifically intended as a high precision escapement for portable clocks. It is very unusual that a clock intended for travel is decorated so delicately and the locking pin to secure the front door is a charming and practical feature. This clock is of such high quality that it could only have been owned by a person of very high rank, quite possibly a member of the Royal family - who owned a substantial number of clocks by Robin. In Robin?s notes he describes clocks similar to the present clock as ?pendule de campagne? and it is evident from these notes that he was experimenting with versions of the Robin escapement in the late 1780s. The dial is by the most eminent French enameler of the 18th century - Joseph Coteau (1740-1801), dials signed by him are extremely rare and is further evidence of the quality of the construction.

Robert Robin (1741-1799)
Robin was a remarkable engineer with a creative mind and possessed considerable ambition which led him to accumulate titles and offices. He belonged to the small circle of great clockmakers at the end of the eighteenth century who greatly improved instruments for measuring time. He became Marchand- Horloger Privilégié du Roi on 22 October 1763 and resigned on 13 September 1765 in favor of Jean-Pierre Courtois. Was received master on 21 November 1767, with a Council decree of 10 November 1767 exempting him from apprenticeship. Horloger du duc de Chartres (1778). Valet de Chambre- Horloger Ordinaire du Roi in reversion to Charles-Athanase Pinon (1783) but never exercized. Obtained the reversion of Maurice-Quentin La Tour's lodgings in the Galeries du Louvre on 5 December 1785. Valet de Chambre-Horloger Ordinaire de la Reine on 1 October 1786. Also held the titles of Horloger de Monsieur (1785), Horloger de la République (1794), and Horloger du Directoire (1796). The most brilliant phase of his career began in 1778 when the Académie des Sciences approved two of his inventions. One of these was an astronomical clock, representing a meridian drawn on a pyramid, which the Menus Plaisirs acquired that same year for Louis XIV, at a cost of 30,000 livres. During this same period, he perfected his famous mantel clocks with astronomical indications and compensated pendulums, one of the first owners being the Marquis de Courtanvaux. Robin applied the same principles to regulator clocks; the duc d'Aumont possessed an early model of this kind. Robin was equally interested in watches, using a special escapement from 1786 onwards, and also in monumental clocks, supplying those for the Grand Commun at Versailles (1782), the Menus Plaisirs warehouse and the Petit Trianon (1785). He published a description of the Petit Trianon clock, which is now on display in the galerie des espèces disparues of the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. During the Terror, Robin produced decimal watches and clocks. The design of the cases for his mantel clocks was remarkably modern and elegant. He used the work of numerous artists including R. and J.B. Osmond, P.P. Thomire, E. Roy, J.L. Beaucour, P. Delacroix, F. Rémond, C. Galle, B. Lieutaud, E. Levasseur, J.H. Riesener, F. Schwerdfeger and A. Weisweiler. Much appreciated by the various administrators of the King's Household, Robin supplied the Crown with a great many clocks. In 1788, the inventory of those owned by the King and the Garde-Meuble lists seven, while the 1793 inventory of the Queen's clocks lists 23 and that of Monsieur, Louis XVI's brother, shows he owned about ten models. His talents and the Royal Family's patronage enabled Robin to count among his clientele the most brillant representatives of the Parisian high society of the time and included, for example, the maréchaux ducs de Duras and de Richelieu, Premiers Gentilshommes de la Chambre, and the marquis de Sérent, tutor to the ducs d'Angoulême et de Berry. See: ?Les Ouvriers du Temps?, by Jean- Dominique Augarde, Antiquorum Editions, 1996. Literature: An extremely similar clock is illustrated in: Tardy, ?La Pendule Francaise?, 2me. Partie, 1981, p. 120. Another similar example but with Sevres porcelain panels instead of enamel is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.