Musical hour striking table clock with automaton
Musical hour striking table clock with automaton
Great Britain, London
Circa 1780
Eardley Norton
Brass, steel, enamel, glass, silver, ornamental stones; casting, painting, gilding, mechanical work
Height 48 cm
On the dials: “EARDLEYY NORTON/LONDON”, “CHIME /NOT CHIME”, names of twelve pieces in English: “Minuet / An Air / March/In these groves”. On the mechanism rear mounting plate: “Eardley Norton, St John's Street, London”
Table clock in complicated gilded silver case. The platform with rectangular protrusions at the corners, resting on the volumetric curls-shaped feet with ornamental stones’ inserts is the case base. Cast male and female figures symbolizing Four Seasons are standing on those protrusions. Cast garland-shaped onlays ornamental stones inserts are between the figures. The case front and rear sides are closed with glass doors in ornately shaped frames. The dial shield with three white enamel dials - large clock dial and two small ones is on façade. The dials are surrounded by the painted images of flowers, the river with boats and buildings on the far riverbank. Openwork hour and minute hands, black Roman numerals for hours’ designation and minutes’ scale with Arabic numerals indicating five-minute intervals are on the clock dial. Three apertures with square pins for winding key are on the clock shield. One small dial with the straight hand is chime switch off, the other one is the tunes switch on|/off. The watchmaker’s name is engraved on the clockwork rear mounting plate, decorated with engraved foliage design. Cast gilded onlays with musical attributes, ornamental stones and mascarons located on curvilineal edges of the case, support the extruded corners of the arched top. Gilded urns with tongues of fire and winged dragons are mounted in the corners. The dome with four dragons and urn with snakes crowns the whole construction. The dome is set on the drum with arcade. The case lateral sides are covered with openwork lattices with the images of military attributes and sun with rays. Carrying handles are above the lattices. Musical movement with pinned cylinder and eight-bells Carillon, every hour or if preferred, performs one of four tunes. The automaton is activated simultaneously – the boats with passengers are moving against the landscape background. The clockwork with pendulum verge escapement and an hour striking upon the bell and the musical movement are activated by drive mechanism with three springs and fusees. The clock is mounted on black wooden stepped stand.
Winding
key for the springs is in the set.
Инв.2329.1-2/ММП