DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1399#0044
PLATE 2t3.
BRONZE CLOCK AND CANDELABRA,
BY L. MARCIIAND, PARIS.
Ij^OUNDBD so far back as the year 1820, the house of Marchand has never ceased to hold
-*- a high position in manufacturing those " bronzes d'art " for which Paris is so celebrated.
There was nothing in the Neo-Grec style, now so much in vogue in Frauce, which evinced greater
power of design and refined taste than these pieces, which were composed of black marble, relieved
with incised gilt ornaments and bronze, very artistically oxydized and gilt. This, with other
pieces of the same class, are proofs of what great artistic ability and educated taste are brought
to bear on the productions of the Parisian manufacturers, and they reflect great credit on the
eminent sculptor M. Eugene Piat, who, in the right spirit of a true artist, does not consider his
dignity compromised by assisting the manufacturer in placing before the public objects for
domestic use, which cannot fail to have an effect in refining and raising the national taste.
As we have had occasion to give a slight historical account of the introduction and development
of great public clocks in Europe, which will be found on reference to the letter-press of Plate 182,
we will very briefly pursue the same course in respect to portable clocks. It is not clearly
ascertained at what particular period these were first introduced; but it is likely that, before
portable clocks could be made, the substitution of a mainspring for descending weights, as a motive
power, must have taken place, and this occurred probably at the close of the 15th century, producing
a new era in the art of clockmaking. Neither is it known where portable clocks originated; but
we are inclined to think that Italy may claim the invention, since one of the earliest notices of
such a clock is to be found in a letter from Ambrosius Camaldulensis to Nicolaus, a learned
Florentine, at the close of the 15th century. He writes: "When I received your letter, I
immediately made ready your clock, and should have sent it, had any one been at hand to take it."
He then describes it as being injured by dust, and states that he has given it to the " illustrious
youth Angelo, who is most skilful in these things," to clean. The Italian poet Gaspar Visconti,
writing at this period, says: " They make certain little and portable clocks, &c." This has been
ascribed by Beckman to mean watches; but if so, the writer, we think, would have used the word
portabili, and not "portativi." In the year 1484, Politian describes an excellent clock made by
one Lorenzo, a Florentine, for Cosmo de' Medici. M. Labarte states, in his "Arts du Moyen-Age,"
that " Carovage, or Carovagius, a Frenchman, who lived in 1480, is considered as the inventor
of portable clocks with striking bells and alarum. This invention of a Frenchman excited the
emulation of the Italian and German clockmakers, who vied with each other in producing the
most extraordinary clocks. A considerable number still exist of the first half of the 16th century,
which may be considered as prodigies of mechanism." M. Pierre Dubois, in the " Moyen-Age
et Renaissance," makes the same assertion; but "Carovage" sounds suspiciously like Garavaggio,
a town of I/ombardy, which has given its name, after the Italian fashion, to several distinguished
men.
In France they were known as "orloges portatives qui monstrent les heures ;" whence "montre."
The earliest example Count de Laborde can find in France is in the year 1529, when payment is
made to Jullien Couldroy (Jullien de Fontenay Coldore?), the king's " orlogeur," for two "monstres
d'horloges sans contrepoise." The earliest we know of in England is one presented by Henry VIII.
to Anne Boleyn (circa 1535), now in the possession of Her Majesty. This one, however, has
weights. In the Green Vaults of Dresden are two very fine portable clocks by J. Schlottheim and
Werner, both clockmakers of Augsburg; the last-named died A.D. 1544: and a great number
of such, of remarkable design and mechanism, are scattered throughout Europe. During this
century Germany would appear to have taken the lead in the manufacture, which it retained for
a long period; England was supplied with clocks from Germany; and Shakspeare says, in "Love's
Labour's Lost" (ascribed to the year 1592), "A woman that is like a German clock, still a
repairing." The transition from portable clocks to watches was naturally very swift, as both were
constructed on the spring principle, and for some length of time Augsburg and Nuremberg were
the principal seats of the manufacture.
BRONZE CLOCK AND CANDELABRA,
BY L. MARCIIAND, PARIS.
Ij^OUNDBD so far back as the year 1820, the house of Marchand has never ceased to hold
-*- a high position in manufacturing those " bronzes d'art " for which Paris is so celebrated.
There was nothing in the Neo-Grec style, now so much in vogue in Frauce, which evinced greater
power of design and refined taste than these pieces, which were composed of black marble, relieved
with incised gilt ornaments and bronze, very artistically oxydized and gilt. This, with other
pieces of the same class, are proofs of what great artistic ability and educated taste are brought
to bear on the productions of the Parisian manufacturers, and they reflect great credit on the
eminent sculptor M. Eugene Piat, who, in the right spirit of a true artist, does not consider his
dignity compromised by assisting the manufacturer in placing before the public objects for
domestic use, which cannot fail to have an effect in refining and raising the national taste.
As we have had occasion to give a slight historical account of the introduction and development
of great public clocks in Europe, which will be found on reference to the letter-press of Plate 182,
we will very briefly pursue the same course in respect to portable clocks. It is not clearly
ascertained at what particular period these were first introduced; but it is likely that, before
portable clocks could be made, the substitution of a mainspring for descending weights, as a motive
power, must have taken place, and this occurred probably at the close of the 15th century, producing
a new era in the art of clockmaking. Neither is it known where portable clocks originated; but
we are inclined to think that Italy may claim the invention, since one of the earliest notices of
such a clock is to be found in a letter from Ambrosius Camaldulensis to Nicolaus, a learned
Florentine, at the close of the 15th century. He writes: "When I received your letter, I
immediately made ready your clock, and should have sent it, had any one been at hand to take it."
He then describes it as being injured by dust, and states that he has given it to the " illustrious
youth Angelo, who is most skilful in these things," to clean. The Italian poet Gaspar Visconti,
writing at this period, says: " They make certain little and portable clocks, &c." This has been
ascribed by Beckman to mean watches; but if so, the writer, we think, would have used the word
portabili, and not "portativi." In the year 1484, Politian describes an excellent clock made by
one Lorenzo, a Florentine, for Cosmo de' Medici. M. Labarte states, in his "Arts du Moyen-Age,"
that " Carovage, or Carovagius, a Frenchman, who lived in 1480, is considered as the inventor
of portable clocks with striking bells and alarum. This invention of a Frenchman excited the
emulation of the Italian and German clockmakers, who vied with each other in producing the
most extraordinary clocks. A considerable number still exist of the first half of the 16th century,
which may be considered as prodigies of mechanism." M. Pierre Dubois, in the " Moyen-Age
et Renaissance," makes the same assertion; but "Carovage" sounds suspiciously like Garavaggio,
a town of I/ombardy, which has given its name, after the Italian fashion, to several distinguished
men.
In France they were known as "orloges portatives qui monstrent les heures ;" whence "montre."
The earliest example Count de Laborde can find in France is in the year 1529, when payment is
made to Jullien Couldroy (Jullien de Fontenay Coldore?), the king's " orlogeur," for two "monstres
d'horloges sans contrepoise." The earliest we know of in England is one presented by Henry VIII.
to Anne Boleyn (circa 1535), now in the possession of Her Majesty. This one, however, has
weights. In the Green Vaults of Dresden are two very fine portable clocks by J. Schlottheim and
Werner, both clockmakers of Augsburg; the last-named died A.D. 1544: and a great number
of such, of remarkable design and mechanism, are scattered throughout Europe. During this
century Germany would appear to have taken the lead in the manufacture, which it retained for
a long period; England was supplied with clocks from Germany; and Shakspeare says, in "Love's
Labour's Lost" (ascribed to the year 1592), "A woman that is like a German clock, still a
repairing." The transition from portable clocks to watches was naturally very swift, as both were
constructed on the spring principle, and for some length of time Augsburg and Nuremberg were
the principal seats of the manufacture.