Table clock with quarter hour chime, calendar and automaton “The twelve apostles cathedral”
Table clock with quarter hour chime, calendar and automaton “The twelve apostles cathedral”
France, Arne-le-Duc
1898
Proutat Jaques-Victor
Brass, glass steel, copper; gilding, chasing, casting, mechanical works
900 x 505 x 320 cm
The plaque on the plinth bears an engraved inscription in French featuring an extract from the magazine "Revue Chronométrique", dated May 20, 1906, giving information on the author and his creation. "Proutat Victor 1898".
The clock in the form of a Gothic cathedral is mounted on the gilded plinth and closed by transparent case with faceted glass walls in the thin gilded binding. The case front and rear sides are in the form of doors. The case façade with chamfered corners is decorated with elements characteristic of the Gothic style -- lancet arches, rosettes with four-leaves and two turrets with pointed roofs and lancet windows. Along with gilded elements, red copper details were widely used. The background for the openwork arches are blue blued steel panels. The façade covers only the front side of the mechanism, the other three sides are open to view.
The centrepiece of the façade is a circular enamel dial with Roman numerals for hours, minute divisions, Arabic symbols for five-minute intervals and three central hands -- hour, minute and seconds. Inside the ring, below the twelve o'clock mark, is a steel sector with an openwork inscription - the master's name - on a blue blued background. Below the hour dial is a circular enamel calendar dial with the central pointer decorated with the image of a solar disc and the French names of the months. Miniature images of the sun indicate the dates of the spring and autumn equinoxes and the winter and summer solstice. Two small circular dials with hands indicating the day of the week and the date are inside the calendar ring. The calendar is framed by a blued steel ring with engraved images of the zodiac signs Circular blued sector of the lunar calendar with Arabic numerals is above the hour dial. A movable gilt disc with the moon against a starry sky inside the sector shows the moon phases. Theatre of automata is fixed on the flat top side. A bracket with large bell stands in the stage center. Cylindrical gilded tent from which a figure of the god Chronos appears every hour with a scythe in one hand and a hammer in the other is the left of it. Chronos raises his hammer and strikes the bell the required number of times. To the left of the tent is a rotunda with two bells, one above the other. Next to the bells are figures of angels with hammers in their hands. On the right side is a model of a cathedral with two portals facing the centre of the stage and covered by metal curtain with the images of the French flag and the Last Supper. During the action, the curtain slides open to reveal a procession of apostle figures from one portal to another.
The clock movement is pendulum, with Amant escapement, three spring motors and an attached calendar movement. A key is in the set.
Инв.2200/ММП