Clock, lyre-shaped, Sèvres, 1795-1797

The lyre, with its association in mythology with Apollo, the sun god, was deemed a particularly appropriate shape for clock cases. They were produced in France in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in a wide range of materials: carved and gilded wood, marquetry, gilt bronze, marble and porcelain.

In addition to this example in Sèvres porcelain, there are two similar Sèvres lyre clocks in the Royal Collection in London. One of these also has a dial painted with the signs of the zodiac by the enameller Coteau, while the other is signed by the same French clock maker, Kinable. A further example is in the Musée National de Céramique at Sèvres. The model was introduced at Sèvres in 1785 and went on being produced in small numbers right up to the end of the 18th century. We know from the factory's kiln records, that some thirty lyres went through the kilns from 1788-1797. Most of those that survive have the deep blue ( beau bleu ) ground colour, but a few are known in green, pink or turquoise blue.

King Louis XVI, is recorded as buying a pair of blue-ground lyre clocks on 4th January 1786 at a cost of 384 livres . However, the factory records reveal that they were mostly bought by clock makers or marchands merciers (dealers in luxury goods) who then fitted them with clock dials and movements which are fortunately often dated and signed. The clock maker Dieudonné Kinable was active from the late 18th century until after 1816. His first recorded purchase of a lyre clock was on 26 pluviôse an III (14 February, 1795). Between that date and 25 March, 1797 (5 germinal, an V), he bought twelve lyres. On 12 June 1806 he purchased a further seven.

Reproduction Louis XVI lyre-shaped clocks were made in the second half of the nineteenth century, often copying the names and dates on known original versions. Information taken from Geoffrey de Bellaigue. French Porcelain in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen , Royal Collection Publications, 2009, 3 vols. Vol. III, pp. 993-997. Case: Clock with a porcelain frame case, lyre-shaped and blue ( beau bleu , developed at Sèvres in 1763) ground with chased ormolu mounts and dial painted with the signs of the Zodiac, and the pendulum formed by a ring of paste diamonds. Dial: The innermost ring of figures 1 to 31 are for the day of the month. The next ring is marked with Roman hours.

Surrounding this is the minute circle, with every fifth minute marked by a paste diamond. Around these are the names of the months in French, surrounded by painted figures of the zodiac by Cotteau, in various colours. The winding holes are inside IIII VIII, and the dial is signed 'Kinable' above VI. The hour and minute hands are pierced brass, the hands for the day of the month and annual calender steel; the latter hand has partly broken off. Movement: The circular movement plates are 12.7cm diameter. Both trains have going barrels, with an Amant-type pin-wheel escapement. The pendulum has a double bob, and at the front the ring of 47 paste diamonds each set in a thin copper cup, which surround the dial.

These two lower parts of the pendulum are fixed below a horizontal A-shaped piece attached to the bottom of a mock compensation pendulum of 4 steel and 3 brass rods, each 15.2cm long and all fixed at the top and bottom, suspended from a stirrup with screw vertical adjustment and resting on a pair of knife-edges. An upward crutch attached to the pallet arbor has two pins which engage with the slots between the rods of the mock compensation, with a screw for sideways adjustment. The locking-plate striking train, with an outside count-wheel, allows for a single stroke at each half-hour, coaxial with the second wheel of the strike train.