An ormolu cartel clock CLOCK FRENCH (Paris); about 1750. The dial signed "Stollewerck a Paris." Case of chased ormolu. Michel Stollewerck was made maître-horloger on the 15th April, 1746, and worked in Paris, often collaborating with A. Fortier. Jones Collection. Museum No. 997-1882 [1980-1990] This cartel clock was originally supported by a matching bracket. The maker of the movement Michel Stollenwerck was of German birth but recorded in Paris by 1730. He first established his workshop in the precincts of the Abbey St Germain des Pres in 1739 but moved to the rue de la Comedie Française by 1747. Stollenwerck had exceptional mechanical talent and specialized in musical clocks. In 1776 Pere Marie-Dominique-Joseph Engramelle noted 'The carillons of Stollenwerck which have been transported to China, to the Grand Mogul, to Turkey, and to the Hurons, have enchanted the sovereigns of these vast countries'. The editors of the Encyclopedie chose one of Stollenwerck's clocks to illustrate the article on Carillon. Stollenwerck's movements were contained in cases by the best workers in ormolu including J.P.Latz, R.Osmond, Morlay and E.Roy. They were gilded by I.P.Gobert. This example, although relatively modest, incorporates, as finial a Cupid armed with fleche of arrows, his bow slung behind him. The presence of Cupid representing Love alludes to the celebrated clock model by André Charles Boulle in which Cupid is shown as the Conqueror of Time. Stollenwerck supplied clocks for the French nobility and the crowned heads of Europe including King Stanislas Leszczynski, Frederick II of Prussia and Augustus III of Saxony. Case: This cartel clock was originally supported on an ormolu bracket. Dial: White enamel dial, 8.9cm (diameter), of conventional layout. Winding hole piercing and signed in centre 'Stollewerk Paris'. There are gilt hands, the hour-hand being pierced, and there is another hole for regulation above the dial top. Movement: Going train with barrel at the bottom centre of the movement, the fusee of 9 turns to the right. Verge escapement, with crown wheel of 35T, crutch attachd to the verge. The pendulum is 13.6cm long, suspended from a wound-up cord, with a lenticular bob, 4.1cm diameter. The locking-plate striking mechanism to left, with giong barrel. An external count-wheel is numbered 1 to 12 with a second wheel of train, allowing a sngle stroke at half ours.