The restoration of five Boulle marquetry clocks, begun a few months ago, is now complete. Here is a Regency clock and its console, inlaid with brown tortoiseshell and brass on an oak frame.
The Measurement of Time
Since the dawn of time, humankind has strived to measure time. From the gnomon, a simple stick planted in the ground and a precursor to the sundial, to the flow of water in the clepsydra, and then to the hourglass using the same principle, all these methods have allowed people to organize their social, religious, and economic lives. In the West, it wasn't until the 14th century that the first clock appeared. Lacking a dial and hands, it struck the hours using a foliot escapement powered by a weight. During the Renaissance, the weight was replaced by a spring. Clocks became more sophisticated and miniaturized, placed on tables, and wound with a key. Shortly before his death, Galileo discovered the principle of pendulum oscillation, but never managed to put it into practice. It wasn't until the 17th century that the Dutch mathematician and physicist Christian Huygens He would develop Galileo's discoveries. Thus, in 1657, he had the first pendulum clock built. This mechanism, more precise and more reliable, spread rapidly throughout Europe and became so successful that the term "pendulum" eventually replaced "clock".
Description
The piece shown is an alcove cartel clock, composed of three distinct parts:
- The capital, the upper part surmounted by a bronze headdress and used to hold the two stamps.
- The frame, the intermediate part housing the dial and the movement, is richly decorated with Boulle marquetry and gilded and chiseled bronzes.
- The console, or "lamp base", used for wall mounting on which the frame and capital will rest, is also decorated with marquetry and bronze.
The origin of the cartel:
Cartels appeared in the 18th century. The origin of the name Cartel comes from the Italian "carteglio" which represents the decoration surrounding the dial of a clock and "cartella" which designates the uprights supporting the clock.
In France, the name Cartel was once a rolled-up letter used as a challenge to a duel, passed between knights. This same card gave its name to decorative, curved, and contorted shapes, and later to clocks featuring these same shapes.
The term eventually evolved to refer to all clocks resting on a console fixed to the wall.
State of affairs report
The furniture's structure is sound, as are those of the console and the capital. The door has a crack running its entire length. Most of the work will focus on the marquetry: some brass pieces are missing, and some have been filled with gold putty. The veneers are lifting, the pieces are unstable and detach easily.
The Restoration
The restoration work therefore consisted of reattaching all the elements of the cartel clock, both structural and plated. For this, all the gluing was done under vacuum. The missing brass and tortoiseshell pieces were replaced and glued, like the rest, using fish glue.
Roubo putty was applied to fill the saw cut joints before the application of a thin coat of colorless French polish.
