Month-Going Longcase Regulator with Multiple Functions and Equation of Time
Movement: Berthoud, Ferdinand; Case: Lieutaud, Balthazar
France, circa 1770
Desription
There are few clocks of such technical mastery and beauty as this longcase regulator by Ferdinand Berthoud and case by the esteemed ebeniste Lieutaud. This exquisite clock is the epitome of all that the French valued in horology during the Louis XVI period. The French horological scientist/technicians - the savants - soared in this period but they did not abandon the aesthetic roots of French clocks. This clock exemplifies the finest of artistry and technology.
The movement by Ferdinand Berthoud is the pinnacle of the horologist’s art and true regulator quality: a five wheel time train with indirect weight drive, deadbeat escapement, maintaining power, fine beat adjustment, annular calendar, month-duration, and equation of time. The massive nine-bar grid iron brass and steel pendulum has a temperature arc, an extraordinary piece of technology.
The white enamel dial, signed Ferdinand Berthoud, has an aperture for the annular calendar. The dial is surrounded by a thick gilt serpent and bead bezel. Below the dial is an exquisite oval-shaped barometer with gilt laurel wreath bezel and ribbons.
The perfectly proportioned ebony-veneered case is neoclassical artistry at its finest, tapering to the base to bring focus on the dial. The case is surmounted by an urn with ring handles and laurel swags beneath a ball, decorated with a torch between feathered wings, the glazed trunk door is richly mounted with tapering interlaced borders, cast and chased with stiff leaf, beading and berried laurel. The lower border has pierced sprays of seed pods and foliage, the plinth is centered with five-point star and the convex base-edge applied with beaded laurel.
This clock was once owned by the 10th Earl of Stair (1819–1903). A very similar clock with virtually identical dial and movement is in the Wallace Collection. Further similar regulators by Berthoud and Lieutaud are in the Frick Collection, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and Chateau de Versaille, Paris.