Live Auction 2350500 Years: Decorative Arts Europe, Including Oriental Carpets
AN UNUSUAL EMPIRE ORMOLU LONG DURATION PORTICO MANTEL REGULATOR WITH MOONPHASE, VERTICAL BALANCE WHEEL ESCAPEMENT AND REMONTOIRE: 'REGULATEUR DE CHEMINEE'
Lot 558

AN UNUSUAL EMPIRE ORMOLU LONG DURATION PORTICO MANTEL REGULATOR WITH MOONPHASE, VERTICAL BALANCE WHEEL ESCAPEMENT AND REMONTOIRE: 'REGULATEUR DE CHEMINEE'

BY BOURDIER, CIRCA 1815

Closed22 October 2010

Price Realised

USD 60,000

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AN UNUSUAL EMPIRE ORMOLU LONG DURATION PORTICO MANTEL REGULATOR WITH MOONPHASE, VERTICAL BALANCE WHEEL ESCAPEMENT AND REMONTOIRE: 'REGULATEUR DE CHEMINEE'
BY BOURDIER, CIRCA 1815
CASE: portico design, with four Ionic columns above stepped base, resting on mahogany plinth with height adjusting screws, on bun feet and under glass dome (cracked) DIAL: dead silvered, of regulator format with outer minutes marked at the quarters, recessed seconds disc and hour sector to centre, signed 'BOURDIER', signature and numerals repainted, with enamel moonphase with age of moon above MOVEMENT: timepiece with twin barrels, with inverted dead beat escapement to the back plate regulated below by a large brass balance wheel pivoted on two wheels and with blued steel spring, the spring regulated to the front with blued steel pointer against a silvered scale, the five second remontoire also positioned to the rear
17¾ in. (45 cm.) high over dome, 9 in. (23 cm.) wide, 6¼ in. (16 cm.) deep

Acquired from a private collection in France.

Specialist note

Balance wheel escapements appear infrequently on French mantel clocks. A Louis XVI 'portico' type clock by Charles Bertrand with horizontal balance wheel is illustrated in D. Roberts, Continental and American Skeleton Clocks, Atglen, 1988, p. 33, fig. 20. Another portico-framed clock with horizontal balance is illustrated p. 41, fig. 29. Skeleton-form clocks with balance wheel escapement appear are perhaps slightly more common, such as the example by Druyer, also with remontoire, illustrated in Roberts p. 37, fig. 24a, b, and subsequently sold in the Demitroff collection, Sotheby's, New York, 5 April 2004, lot 26 ($45,000).
The signature on this clock probably indicates the work of Jean-Simon Bourdier (maître in 1787) who was certainly innovative enough to design such an unusual clock. He was working until at least 1830, when he had premises in rue Saint-Denis. However, Tardy also records two sons and one of their widows working in Paris 1810-1820.