Clocks in the Permanent Collection of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum

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Surrounded by the Gulbenkian Garden in Lisbon stands one of the most important private collections in the world, assembled during his lifetime by the Armenian Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian, with 6000 pieces on display in a building constructed specifically to house it. Among the entire holdings of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum (MCG) are 7 clocks and a barometer/thermometer, which we will now get to know.

Regulator

Provenance: Polovtsoff Collection; Hodgskins Collection. Acquired by Calouste Gulbenkian from the Duveen firm, Paris, April 1924. Dimensions: H. 245 cm; W. 63 cm; D. 26 cm

"The case of this clock, executed in the rocaille style, is a remarkable example, not only for its superb marquetry work with floral motifs but also for its sumptuous decoration in chased and gilt bronze, in which a composite allegory with fully modelled figures stands out at the crest of the piece. The upper part, or «hood», holds the enamelled dial, with three hands indicating hours, minutes and seconds, and encloses the clock's movement; just below, an intermediate section allows the pendulum to swing, visible through a round window; in the lower part hang the weights that drive the whole.

Clocks of this type, with a tall case and a very long pendulum, were called regulators because of their high degree of precision, which allowed other clocks to be set by them. In the example we see here, the strongly contoured shape is perfectly adapted to the needs of the movement it encloses." © Calouste Gulbenkian Museum

Wall clock – Jacques Caffieri, Jacques Lemazurier

Provenance: Rodolphe Kann Collection. Acquired by Calouste Gulbenkian from the Duveen firm, Paris, 6 May 1910.
Dimensions: H. 115 cm; W. 63 cm

"A circular dial in richly decorated compartmented enamel and two hands treated with equally meticulous openwork are the visible part of the art of the master clockmaker who designed and made the movement of this remarkable work of art. The surround was executed by Jacques Caffieri – son and father of sculptors and bronze-casters – in which he displays all the talent that made him a rival of Charles Cressent in the art of bronze applied to the decoration of artistic objects.

Like the latter, his style still often reflects a strong Régence component, clearly visible in this piece, in which symmetry dominates, although the sculptural group at the crest already expresses the rocaille tendencies that marked this period, present throughout the piece but above all in the two infant figures that surmount it, fully modelled in a scene full of grace and movement. The wall clock, known at the time as a cartel d’applique, is characterised in its form by the reminiscence of the bracket that originally supported table clocks when they were fixed to vertical surfaces, which shows in the lower extension of the frame ending in a triangular point." © Calouste Gulbenkian Museum

Astronomical clock – André-Charles Boulle, attrib.

Provenance: Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni. Acquired by Calouste Gulbenkian from Duveen, Paris, January 1922.
Dimensions: H. 100 cm; W. 21 cm

"An imposing clock, not only for its size but for the monumental character of its sculptural decoration, one of the hallmarks of Boulle's work. It is thought to have been commissioned by Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, whose arms and cardinal's insignia can be seen in the upper sculptural group, a representation of Fame. On the base of the clock, made up of four pilasters, in an allegory of Time, we can see Chronos reclining beside a small cupid. This sculptural group rests on a drapery bearing an engraved scene in which this Pope, Alexander VIII, condemns the Jansenist doctrines.

The case of this clock is of wood, inlaid with ebony and brass on a tortoiseshell ground, another of the «trademarks» of Boulle's production. The quality and mastery of André-Charles Boulle's work led Louis XIV to appoint him master cabinetmaker to the king and to install him, under royal protection, in the galleries of the Louvre, where Jacques Thuret, master clockmaker to the king, also worked. It is an astronomical clock, so called because it has a high-precision movement which, besides indicating the hours, minutes and seconds, provides other information such as the date, the phases of the Moon, the position of the Sun and also the signs of the zodiac." © Calouste Gulbenkian Museum

Barometer-Thermometer

Claude-Siméon Passemant, Charles-Nicolas Dodin

Provenance: Boughton Hall Castle; Mortimer L. Schiff Collection. Acquired by Calouste Gulbenkian through Hans Stibel, Christie's, London, June 1938.

Dimensions: H. 100 cm; W. 21 cm

"Measuring and precision instruments were highly sought-after pieces in the 18th century, a result of the scientific advances of the time, at a moment when confidence in man's intellectual capacities and the power of reason took on enormous importance. The king and the court were not indifferent to this trend, using them to decorate their salons and thereby also giving them the status of works of art.

This barometer-thermometer is the work of Claude-Siméon Passemant, one of the greatest inventors and makers of scientific instruments of the period. The two instruments, barometer and thermometer, are set in a case of chased and gilt bronze, decorated with ribbons, flowers, fruit, garlands and scrolls. The decoration also includes three porcelain plaques signed by Charles-Nicolas Dodin, an important figure painter at the Royal Manufactory of Sèvres who executed numerous plaques for the decoration of furniture and scientific instruments, as well as services and vases.

The three plaques show motifs related to the function of the piece. The upper plaque, oval, has a green reserve with gilt borders and, in the centre, a cupid on a cloud holding a telescope. On the middle plaque, with the same border, we can see a boy in a bucolic setting holding a pair of compasses and an armillary sphere. On the lower plaque, smaller and without a reserve, a book and various scientific instruments rest on a cloud. The book is open at a page that reads Connaissance des Temps.