Table Clock David Roentgen

An important and rare table clock from the workshop of David Roentgen. The case with an oval stepped plinth top with gilt-bronze handle, decoration of the case with ormolu mille raie banding, beaded edges and brass fluted columns to the front flanking the square brass dial, foliate engraved spandrels to the corners, centred by the white enamel Arabic chapter ring, signed “Delolme”, Antoine Nicolas Delolme, 1752-1836, Brunswick; worked 1780-1810 and became court clockmaker in 1786, pierced brass hands, convex glazed bezel, square plated eight-day movement with four back-pinned pillars, verge escapement, silk suspension, rack and countwheel strike, striking the hours and quarters on two bells above, the backplate also signed: ”Ane Nicolas Delolme / Hger de la Cour /À BRUNSVIC”, glazed side panels.

There is only a small series of comparable table clocks from the workshop of David Roentgen known. The present clock seems to be the first example of the cooperation between David Roentgen and the court clockmaker Delolme in Brunswick. The case is meticulously crafted and both case and movement are of superb quality.

David Roentgen, called the "most celebrated ébéniste in Europe" by his contemporaries, was a successful entrepreneur who transformed the business founded by his father, Abraham Roentgen, from a national to an international firm with clients in France, Germany, England, and Russia.