Clock Case and Pedestal thumbnail 1
On display
Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Clock Case and Pedestal

late 18th century - 1810 (made)
Artist/Maker
Doccia Porcelain Factory (maker)
Place of origin
Doccia (made)

Case: Case of Doccia porcelain, Florentine, surmounted by a figure of Time, the dial surmounted by an ormolu wreath of olive leaves; on each is a female figure, the clock resting on four dolphins.

Dial: Dial with ormolu bezel, 17.1cm, dial cover-glass 15.1cm diameter, domed; white enamel dial, slightly domed, with a chapter ring, 15.1cm diameter. There is also a narrow outer ring of unnumbered minutes, with Roman hours. The winding holes are inside III, VI, and IX. The gilt hands are pierced and engraved.

Movement: The movement plates are 10.2cm, but have all four corners cut off. It is powered by three resting-barrels. The going train at the lower centre has a tic-tac escapement, and an escape-wheel of 36T, the pallets spanning 3T. The pendulum (now missing) was suspended from the fixed hook. The hours train is to the left, the quarters the right, both being of rack type. Both bells are mounted outside the backplates.

Object details

Categories
Ceramics
Porcelain
Object type
Clock case and pedestal
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Clock
  • Clock Pedestal
Materials and techniques
Porcelain
Hard Paste Porcelain
Ormolu
Glass
Brief description
Clock case and pedestal of porcelain, Doccia porcelain factory, Florence, late 18th-early 19th century
Physical description
Case: Case of Doccia porcelain, Florentine, surmounted by a figure of Time, the dial surmounted by an ormolu wreath of olive leaves; on each is a female figure, the clock resting on four dolphins.

Dial: Dial with ormolu bezel, 17.1cm, dial cover-glass 15.1cm diameter, domed; white enamel dial, slightly domed, with a chapter ring, 15.1cm diameter. There is also a narrow outer ring of unnumbered minutes, with Roman hours. The winding holes are inside III, VI, and IX. The gilt hands are pierced and engraved.

Movement: The movement plates are 10.2cm, but have all four corners cut off. It is powered by three resting-barrels. The going train at the lower centre has a tic-tac escapement, and an escape-wheel of 36T, the pallets spanning 3T. The pendulum (now missing) was suspended from the fixed hook. The hours train is to the left, the quarters the right, both being of rack type. Both bells are mounted outside the backplates.
Dimensions
  • Whole height: 76.2cm
  • Whole width: 41.9cm
  • Pedestal width: 41.9cm
  • Pedestal depth: 24.5cm
  • Pedestal height: 11cm
  • Whole weight: 17kg
  • Pedestal weight: 4.7kg
  • Clock case weight: 12.3kg
  • Clock case height: 65.2cm
  • Clock case depth: 22.4cm
  • Clock case width: 34cm
clock case with figure of time attached: h x w x d 66.0 x 39.0 x 24.0 cm
Subjects depicted
Wreath
Leaves
Figure
Dolphin
Ormolu
Time
Bibliographic references
  • See object information file
  • Frescobaldi Malenchini, Livia ed. With Balleri, Rita and Rucellai, Oliva, ‘Amici di Doccia Quaderni, Numero VII, 2013, The Victoria and Albert Museum Collection’, Edizioni Polistampa, Firenze, 2014 pp. 73-74, Cat. 52 52. Clock case with figures in relief and pedestal end of the 18th-beginning of the 19th century hard-paste porcelain and gilded metal h 75,5 cm (with base); h 65,5 cm (without base) no mark inv. 3645&A-1856 purchase: £ 18 The porcelain clock case appears possibly related to a similar model in bronze in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, which came from the collection of the Duke of Hamilton. It was purchased, probably, in the workshop of the sculptor and goldsmith Luigi Valadier by the Cardinal Duke of York, as demonstrated by the coat of arms of the Stuart family, of which the Duke became the last descendant in 1788 (A. González-Palacios, R. Valeriani, in L’ORO DI VALADIER 1997, p. 121-124, cat. 24). When compared with the clock case in bronze, this version has variations in the top part and in the substitution of the cameo painted with a satyr and dancing maenads, with festoons in relief. This latter corresponds to the two garlands surrounding the head of a Medusa partially covered by drapery which is also a decorative element introduced by Ginori to replace the other two dials located above the clock. There is no record of this clock case in the inventories of the Doccia factory but it is likely that the moulds arrived there in 1786, along with others created by the master goldsmith and sold by his son Giuseppe to Lorenzo Ginori (BIANCALANA 2009, p. 85-86). They are described in a list where there is also a “Orologgio Cavi N: 9 con lettera H” (AGL, XIII, 1, f. VII, lett. 1114, Letter from Vincenzo Sebastiani to Lorenzo Ginori, Rome, 4 November 1786, doc. cit. in). The Stuart coat of arms was eliminated in the Doccia version and replaced with an Allegory of Time created by Giovan Battista Foggini before 1725, to decorate a clock published by Alvar Gonzáles-Palacios (GONZÁLES-PALACIOS 1986, vol. II, p. 66, fig. 89; PENNY 1992, p. 29). The model and the relative moulds (except for the base with the feet which is not present in the Valadier model) was at Doccia starting at the latest in 1750, as demonstrated by a receipt made out to Vincenzo Foggini for “figures in wax […], Time […]”, which is confirmed by the Tempietto in Cortona made around 1751 (LANKHEIT 1982, p. 160, 87:2; for the Tempietto see GINORI LISCI 1963, p. 64; J. Winter, in LE STATUE DELMARCHESE GINORI, 2003, p. 88-91, cat. 17; BALLERI 2009, p. 12), where the figure of Time is reproduced. The casting project that was conducted in the 1960s by Gino Campana, director of the factory at the time, using the historical moulds of Doccia (BALLERI 2011, p. 40), demonstrated the existence in the factory of the moulds for the clock case (B-2211). However the clock by Campana did not have the ring motif along the base which was probably added by Ginori. This suggests that the base – of the clock of the V&A – was modelled directly on the piece before firing or else that for the base there was another mould with this decoration. The presence in the Museo di Doccia of a version in white porcelain with gilding (inv. 6784), which can be dated stylistically to the early 20th century demonstrates the popularity of this clock, for which, however, we have only the basic composition which is significantly modified with respect to the one in the Victoria & Albert Museum. The faithful imitation of the archetype and the type of modeling used suggest that the clock case in the Victoria & Albert Museum should be dated between the end of the 18th century and the first decade of the 19th century. R.B. Bibliography: PENNY 1992, p. 29, 31, cat. 465 (as probably Buen Retiro)
  • See ormolu version of this clock made by Valadier, with movement by James Cox in the Ashmolean Museum collection, Oxford, c.1776
Collection
Ceramics Collection
Accession number
3645&A-1856

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O308445/clock-case-and-doccia-porcelain-factory/
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