Lot 189

Baltazar Martinot à Paris, Height 540 mm, circa 1675
A rare religieuse pendulum clock in the Hague tradition with half hour / hour strike
Case: walnut and ebony-veneer, moulded, windows to the sides, glazed front with Corinthian columns, pediment with gilt Flambeau finials concealing the bell. Dial: dial plate with applied gilt brass chapter ring with inlaid radial Roman hours set on a black velvet surround. Signature plaque below decorated with flower garlands covering an aperture for the controlling of the pendulum. Movm.: rectangular brass movement 110 x 130 mm, signed, 2 barrels, count wheel, verge escapement, cycloidal cheeks, silk suspended short pendulum.
Balthasar Martinot (1636–1714)
Balthazar Martinot II can be considered the most famous of a large family of clock- and watchmakers. The eldest son of Balthazar Martinot I and his wife Catherine Hubert was born in Rouen in 1636 and died at Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1714. Martinot was established in Paris in 1660; he inherited the title of Watchmaker to Queen Anne of Austria upon the death of bis father-inlaw, Pierre Belon in 1665 and was later appointed watchmaker to the royal council. An inventory of 1700 revealed that he held the largest stock of clocks in Paris, while five years previously he had organized a significant lottery at court in association with his colleague, Nicholas Gribelin. Martinot was patronized by the most important members of society including Louis XIV, the Dauphin, and many of the wealthy amongst the aristocracy. The watches and clocks of Martinot are now installed in some of the world’s finest collections including the Musée du Louvre, Musée de Cluny and the Musée de Pau and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Source: Tardy, "Dictionnaire des Horlogers Francais", Paris 1972, pages 442ff.