Footnotes

Throughout Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin's life, the magical and the mechanical were always deeply intertwined. We see this dichotomy best expressed in his famous stage acts such as "The Marvellous Orange Tree" and his unique horological designs.

Born into a family of clockmakers in 1805, young Jean Eugène was a lover of the mechanical arts, especially automatons and soon began an apprenticeship under his cousin Jean Martin Robert. Soon after, Jean Eugène began to work for Noriet, a prominent clockmaker in Tours and it was here that he met the famous conjurer Giovanni Torrini. After moving to Paris to start a comedy company, Jean Eugène met his future wife, Josèphe Cécile Egaltine Houdin, a daughter of the famous clockmaker, Jacques-François Houdin, who had studied under the tutelage of the great Abraham Louis Breguet. After their marriage, Jean Eugène changed his last name to "Robert-Houdin," and with this change came a great rebirth for the artist whose career as both an illusionist, inventor and horologist soon soared to incredible heights.

This rare clock is part of his fifth series of clocks which was developed to further perplex his clients. The secret of the third and fourth series of circular dial clocks was known, so his response was to create a square version that could clearly not operate in the same way. The new design still used sheets of glass to drive the hands, which was achieved by minute oscillations via a cam and rod, rather than the rotation of the glass sheet via a toothed rim.

Throughout the 1840s and 50s, Robert-Houdin's celebrity grew as he performed private shows for Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace and exhibited his inventions at the Universal Exposition of 1855. He passed away from pneumonia on June 13th, 1871, aged 65.

Today, Robert-Houdin is considered the father of modern magic and a French national hero. Perhaps the most famous tribute to the master illusionist was another young showman's decision to change his name from Ehrich Weiss to Houdini.