Studio: international art (26.1902)

The Paris Salons

FIG. 9. —CLOCK, WITH FIG. 10.—"CHIPPENDALE"

PANELS IN MARQUETRY, CLOCK AT WINDSOR

BY CHRISTOPHER GOULD, CASTLE, BY RICHARD

ABOUT 1715 VICK, ABOUT I745

Bath Pump Room. It dates from about 1709,
and therefore serves as an example of Tompion's
latest work. Apart from its utility in this con-
nection, the addition of the arch was certainly
a great improvement to the appearance of the
dial, and from this time was generally retained
for the better class of work even when not
required as a field for the exhibition of any of the
clock movements. In such cases the arch was
devoted to decoration, a favoured device being
a dolphin engraved on each side of a domed plate,

on which was inscribed either the owner's or the
maker's name, occasionally with a crest or motto.

A fine clock by Richard Vick of the Chippendale
period, which is at Windsor Castle, is shown in
Fig. 10. Here the arch of the dial contains a
seconds indicator; the door of the case has a
curved top; the front corners of the body of the
case are enriched with pilasters having metal bases
and caps; pillars of similar design support the upper
part of the hood, which is panelled with fret-work
to more freely emit the sound of the bell;
and generally are embodied all the features of
modern specimens, with which everybody who
takes an interest in such things is familiar.

For many years, but especially during the latter
part of the eighteenth century, there was a great
taste for moving figures placed in this part of the
dial, heaving ships, time on the wing, etc., being
especially favoured. The Dutch seem to have
greatly excelled at this kind of work. English
makers preferred painted discs representing the
moon, by which her course during a lunation was
pictorially recorded. Clocks with a globular
revolving moon over the dial were popular in
Yorkshire during the eighteenth century, and
were known locally as Halifax clocks. Among
French artists with wealthy patrons the formal
square case was never liked. An elegant example
of their best style, dating from about 1750, is
a clock by Lepaute, which adorns the Zuccarelli
room at Windsor Castle. The case is of ebony
with exceptionally fine ormolu mountings.

Another French example of the characteristic
Louis XV. florid style is a clock by Julien Le
Roy, which is in the corridor at Windsor Castle.
The case is of kingwood inlaid with some lighter
veneer to a geometical design, and carries heavy
ormolu with chased mountings.

OME PAINTINGS AND SCULP-
TURE AT THE PARIS SALONS.
BY GABRIEL MOUREY.

Both in the Salon of the Societe Nationale des
Beaux Arts and in that of the Societe des Artistes
Francais we have this year a relatively large number
of fine works. The difficulty is, amid all this super-
abundance of production—the result of the prevail-
ing system of exhibitions—to discover that which is
best; for often the fine things are lost amid their
mediocre surroundings.

MM. Albert Besnard, Aman-Jean and Victor
Prouve are the representatives of decorative paint-
ing in the display of the Societe Nationale. The

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