Beschreibung:

A LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD QUARTER-STRIKING AND MONTH-GOING ORRERY CLOCK WITH CALENDAR AND EQUATION OF TIME DESIGNED BY AND MADE FOR JACQUES-THOMAS-CASTEL, SECRÉTAIRE DU ROI. DATED 1763 CASE: the bombé case with quartered kingwood panels, the panels below with ormolu medallions depicting respectively the Four Seasons and garlanded with appropriate seasonal fruit and flowers, two side panels detaching for interior access, the square plinth below with large ormolu winged putti to each angle, each seated on a cloud and holding attributes and personifying sciences relating to the clock, the plinth with ormolu-framed panels (two glazed, two now veneered), resting on four ball and claw feet; the upper case for the mechanisms formed as an ormolu-mounted brass (formerly copper) drum, with quatrefoil and lattice decoration to the front and acanthus and guilloché with flowerheads to the sides, the sides also with convex glasses (one lacking) within ormolu stiff leaf frames, with vacant shield cartouches above, with ribbon-tied reeded ormolu frames around possibly later or altered brass bezels and convex glasses for dials to front and rear, the time dial with vacant scroll and cartouche mount above and the calendrical dial with inset silvered plaque inscribed '1779' to the cartouche and scroll mount; the orrery and its gearing above (see below), all the upper section within an octangular gilt-metal framed glass cover formed of two sections, this in turn surmounted by a later ormolu dome (signed 'Blake' four times inside) topped by the original figure of Father Time with a scythe TIME DIAL: replaced painted chapter ring showing hours and minutes and with skeletonised centre, engraved ormolu hands showing equation of time, the minute hands inscribed respectively 'SOLAR TIME' and 'MEAN TIME', blued steel seconds hand (all hands replaced), the centre of the dial showing the engraved ormolu annual calendar ring also with signs of the zodiac, the date indicated by a blued steel pointer CALENDRICAL DIAL: replaced painted year calendar ring showing the months, their number of days, deity and the sign of the zodiac, an inner disc giving the days of the week, its centre with aperture for engraved and silvered moonphase on a blue-painted and starred background, engraved ormolu day of week hand, blued steel calendar hand ORRERY: the orrery plinth with ormolu-framed glazed panels showing its gearing, the orrery above within an armillary sphere formed by the equinoctial ('CERCLES DES EQUINOXES'), solstitial ('CERCLE DES SOLTICES'), celestial equator ('CERCLE EQUATEUR') and ecliptic ('CERCLE ECLIPTIQUE') rings, this latter applied with a finely pierced and engraved annual ring showing the months of the year, and zodiacal calendar; the orrery with revolving orbital rings for the planets (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury), all of painted ivory and mounted within individual rings (Saturn and Jupiter also with five and four satellites respectively), each ring inscribed with the planet's name and the duration of its orbit, the system centred by a gilt sun; the Earth ring carrying its own sub-assembly of gearing, the terrestrial globe itself silver and engraved with graduated equator, nine cities given, partial Australian coastline, this tilted on its axis within zodiac and date rings, a twenty-four hour time dial with blued steel pointer set above, orbited by a painted ivory moon which revolves and rises and falls to show respectively the phase and elevation of the moon MOVEMENTS: the clock having two addorsed movements, the principal clock movement behind the time dial with rectangular plates joined by seven rear-pinned pillars, its back plate signed 'Castel Secretaire/Du Roi/Paris/Année 1763', skeletonised front plate carrying the equation of time and motion work, weight-driven and with rope wind, deadbeat pinwheel escapement, the pendulum crutch with fine beat adjustment, the pendulum itself suspended on a knife-edge supported by a brass