Cartel clock - Jean Baptiste Paillard Rococo Gilt bronze, Tortoiseshell, Wood - 1720-1740

This clock is a very large and rare cartel clock from France. It dates from around 1720. It was made of fire-gilded bronze and lavishly decorated with tortoiseshell boulle marquetry. The clock is signed on a white enamel cartouche under the dial. The domed, richly decorated brass dial is engraved on the outside with Arabic numbers for the minutes, and further inside, individual enamel cartouches display the hours in black Roman numerals. The central figure of the clock is Venus in a shell, pulled by fish-like creatures and a putto. At the top of the clock is the goddess Nike on the globe with a trumpet, an allegorical figure for victory. The clock case can be attributed to the cabinet maker Louis Chéron, as an almost identical case signed by him exists. As the clock is very large, it could be a regulator in a palace that was used to keep time for all other clocks.
Jean Baptiste Paillard was a master watchmaker in Paris who ran his workshop there between 1720 and 1748.
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According to Tardy, Jean-Baptiste Paillard became a master in 1717 and worked in the Rue de St. Louis until 1748, dying in 1751.
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Literature: French watchmaker's dictionary. Documentation reunited by Tardy. Second party: L-Z; Complements, calibers, chainettes, pointers and tables. TARDY, H. L. 1971-1972, p. 498.