Régence, Paris ca. 1710, attributable to André-Charles Boulle, the movement signed Thuret à Paris (Jacques III Thuret, 1669 – 1738).

Wooden case, decorated with brown horn and brass, inlaid in the form of tendrils and scrolls. Gilt bronze front, opulently decorated. Bronze dial with white enamel cartouches and Roman numerals. Movement, converted to anchor escapement, striking the 1/2-hour on bell. Movement requires revision. Enamel cartouches, in part cracked. Signature plaque on the front, missing.

36 × 16 × 75 cm.

Pendulum and key, missing.

A clock of a similar model is depicted in Ottomeyer/Pröschel (1986, Vol. 1, 1.12.4 p. 78) and is attributed in this work to Boulle, on the ground of the "compositional principles" and the "technical craftsmanship".

The clock on offer is the first model with a front entirely in bronze and the sides decorated with tortoise shell marquetry. This idea originally came from C. Cressent and, after A.C. Boulle had developed new designs for it, was later adopted by J.J. de Saint-Germain. The first clocks of this type all bear the clockmaker's signature of J. III Thuret. Only a few identical examples of this model are known to exist. An identical model can be found in the Frick Collection in New York, and stems from the Dalva Brothers' Collection, and has a movement signed by François Rabby.

Literature:
- Tardy, La pendule française, Vol. 1, Paris 1974, p. 141, Ill. 2 with a very similar pendule, signed Mynuel.