James Stratton
Director
Lot 90
A good late 17th century ebony veneered basket top striking and quarter repeating table clock Isaac Papavoine, London
2 December 2025, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£4,000 - £6,000
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Lewis Walduck
Cataloguer
A good late 17th century ebony veneered basket top striking and quarter repeating table clock
Isaac Papavoine, London
The case with conjoined cherub and scroll handle to double basket repoussé top, glazed side panels, applied mounts to front and rear doors, the stepped and moulded base raised on brass bun feet. The 7 inch square brass dial with chevron-engraved border, winged cherub mask spandrels to silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring with fleur-de-lys half hour markers and diamond half quarter hour markers, matted centre with engraved borders to mock pendulum and date apertures, ringed winding holes, signed on the silvered mock pendulum back plate I. Papavoine, London, with later blued steel hands, strike/not strike control at IX. The movement with five knopped pillars, the reconverted verge escapement, striking the hours on a bell with reinstated pull quarter repeat on three bells. The backplate profusely engraved with foliate scrolls around a displayed eagle. Together with a pierced and engraved brass winding key. 46cms (18.5ins) high.
The case with conjoined cherub and scroll handle to double basket repoussé top, glazed side panels, applied mounts to front and rear doors, the stepped and moulded base raised on brass bun feet. The 7 inch square brass dial with chevron-engraved border, winged cherub mask spandrels to silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring with fleur-de-lys half hour markers and diamond half quarter hour markers, matted centre with engraved borders to mock pendulum and date apertures, ringed winding holes, signed on the silvered mock pendulum back plate I. Papavoine, London, with later blued steel hands, strike/not strike control at IX. The movement with five knopped pillars, the reconverted verge escapement, striking the hours on a bell with reinstated pull quarter repeat on three bells. The backplate profusely engraved with foliate scrolls around a displayed eagle. Together with a pierced and engraved brass winding key. 46cms (18.5ins) high.
Footnotes
Isaac Papavoine, a French horologist, was admitted as a Free Brother of the Clockmakers' Company in January 1687. Likely part of the Huguenot influx into London, he was active during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Papavoine's name last appears in the Company's records in 1705–6, noted as being significantly in arrears with his subscriptions, suggesting the decline or cessation of his professional activities by that time.
Provenance:
The above lot was sold at Christie's Important Clocks and Marine Chronometers, 6 December 2006, lot 109.