Lewis Walduck
Cataloguer
Lot 38TP,Y
A rare early 18th century French tortoiseshell and brass inlaid quarter repeating boulle clock Denis-Thomas Millard, A Paris
Amended
2 July 2025, 13:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £17,920 inc. premium
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A rare early 18th century French tortoiseshell and brass inlaid quarter repeating boulle clock
Denis-Thomas Millard, A Paris
The case surmounted by the gilt bronze figure of Chronos, leaning forwards, his scythe raised, wings outstretched and robes flowing behind him, over a break-arch top framed with cast gilt bronze classical figures, glazed sides terminating to a moulded base inlaid with Boulle work and brass mounts depicting winged sandglasses representing the passage of time, on cast feet. The 9-inch brass dial with silvered Roman chapter ring, Arabic minute numerals and cruciform half-hour markers framed by an engraved wheatear border, the centre with a matted ground and foliate engraving with six beast masks, and a central cartouche signed D. Millard A Paris. Below the dial a classical relief scene depicting the three fates above a floral frieze. The two train movement with external countwheel striking the hours and half hours, with quarter repeating mechanism using a snail construction, the plates united by five tapering vase-shaped pillars, with decorated steelwork and fully signed backplate, with external clicks and English anchor escapement added in the early 19th century. Together with a wooden rod pendulum and a period winding key. 74cms (29.5ins) high.
The case surmounted by the gilt bronze figure of Chronos, leaning forwards, his scythe raised, wings outstretched and robes flowing behind him, over a break-arch top framed with cast gilt bronze classical figures, glazed sides terminating to a moulded base inlaid with Boulle work and brass mounts depicting winged sandglasses representing the passage of time, on cast feet. The 9-inch brass dial with silvered Roman chapter ring, Arabic minute numerals and cruciform half-hour markers framed by an engraved wheatear border, the centre with a matted ground and foliate engraving with six beast masks, and a central cartouche signed D. Millard A Paris. Below the dial a classical relief scene depicting the three fates above a floral frieze. The two train movement with external countwheel striking the hours and half hours, with quarter repeating mechanism using a snail construction, the plates united by five tapering vase-shaped pillars, with decorated steelwork and fully signed backplate, with external clicks and English anchor escapement added in the early 19th century. Together with a wooden rod pendulum and a period winding key. 74cms (29.5ins) high.
Footnotes
Denis-Thomas Millard is recorded as being a master clockmaker by 1717, with a presence on Rue St. Antoine by 1748. A widow of the same name appears at that address during the 1770s.
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