Black Belgian marble mantel clock - France, Paris circa 1815, signed JEAN-JOSEPH ROBIN
Temple-shaped black Belgian marble case with putti, mythological animals and gilded bronze decorations, circular white enamel dial with Roman numerals signed "Robin a Paris"; the omission of the Arabic numerals at 3, 6, 9 and 12 o'clock shows that the watch was made after 1814, while the signature type is characteristic of the enameller François-Marie Dubuisson who was very prolific from the Louis XVI period until his death in Belleville near Paris on 6 April 1832. Movement with wire suspension, pendulum regulator and hour and half-hour strike on bell. The Robin family, one of the best Parisian watchmakers of the 18th and early 19th centuries, received several royal commissions during the reign of Louis XVI and maintained the highest standards of design and construction, hiring the best bronze workers, gilders and painters of enamelled dials; the founder Robert Robin died in Paris on 17 July 1799 and the business continued with his sons Nicolas-Robert, who died in Paris in 1813, and Jean-Joseph, who died in Paris on 30 July 1856. Height x width x depth: 43 x 33 x 11 cm. Item condition grading: ***** excellent (Ref. “Encyclopédie de La Pendule Fraçaise. By Pierre Kjellberg” Pag. 373 lt. C).