Mysterious gilded bronze pendulum with gadroons,... Lot 574
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Mysterious gilded bronze pendulum with gadroons, floral basket and foliage. Dial supported by griffins.
Signed Robert Houdin in Paris.
Restoration style, end of the 19th century.
H. 34 W. 12 D. 8,5 cm
Jean-Eugène ROBERT-HOUDIN (1805-1871), son of a watchmaker and illusionist, created this model around 1830.
The system gave the impression of a clock operating without a mechanism. The dial is, in fact, composed of two transparent glass screens of the same size. On the back of the first one are painted the hours. The second one placed at the back is mobile and rotates around the axis of the hand. He presented his invention, which he named "Mysterious Pendulum", at the Exhibition of Products of French Industry in 1839. It was a great success.
The Paul Dupuy Museum in Toulouse keeps a similar example in its collections.
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