109,250 CHF
N. Morel, Paris, circa 1530. Extremely rare and fine small gilt brass hexagonal table clock with alarm, of very early date, in original tooled leather fitted box. Two piece, designed as a small tower, the dome pierced with roundels and chased with a foliage decoration over ha tched ground within sectors, the plain sides with fusee observation door. Gilt brass Roman chapter ring, the centre engraved with a wind rose. Blued-steel single hand and alarm pointer. Iron hexagonal posted frame with three Gothic pentagonal pillars, iron train with thin and long brass fusee with gut-line and steel great wheel, brass barrel, verge escapement with steel two arm balance wheel without spring. The single hand driven by means of a worm screw. The alarm train with brass barrel set with a steel contrate wheel, striking on a bell, the double-ended hammer driven by a steel verge escapement. Signed on the bottom plate of the case. In very good condition. Dim. 112 x 69 mm. Notes The earliest portable French clocks retained elements of the Gothic style in their form, most notably in the construction and shape of the domed top section over the bell. Nicolas Morel vas one of the seven makers who petitioned for the establishment of a Corporation for horologists in 1544. In the National Archives in Paris(étude XIX, file 265, fol.5vo-7ro), the inventory drawn up after the death of his first wife, Spire de Fons, in 1534 is preserved, which coincidentally included a small gilt-metal dock in a fitted
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
1993-11-14
