Antique French Gothic Cartel Wall Clock - Rare - Fully Restored - Henri Riondet

~ French - Circa 1880 ~

~~ Excellent condition, fully overhauled ~~

A rare and superb antique French Gothic cartel clock. It is designed architecturally with twin spires and a soaring roof of tracery. Perched above is a mythical flying creature, delicately holding the clock representing the fragility of time itself. Beautifully made in gilded bronze.

The large dial is porcelain enamel on copper with beautifully cut and blued steel hands and convex glass.

The French movement is of high quality and is in excellent clean and running condition having been fully overhauled by our clockmaker. Pendulum is original. It runs for 8 days and strikes the hours and halves on a bell. We have a video of the clock running, please ask and we will send you a link or paste this into your browser: https://www.facebook.com/DragonAntiques/videos/1015425029955664

Condition of the case is excellent, the original gilding is beautifully clean and bright with hardly any wear or discolouration. The dial is also excellent with some small nibbles to the winding holes.

According to an advertisement in the 1896 issue of Didot-Bottin (directory and almanac for commerce, industry, judicial and civil services) the Maison H. Riondet, Comptoir General, a retailer, was one of ‘the most well-stocked shops for everything from: jewellery, bronze art objects, timepieces & furniture, precious stones, marble sculptures, silverware, ceiling lights & white metal, chandeliers, cutlery, lamps & diamond-facetted fireplaces, travel clocks, “fine-stone” pearls.’ It boasted ‘factory prices’ and ‘retail stores in Paris with no other branches, representatives, or offices in any other city, French or foreign.’ Maison H. Riondet was located at 9, boulevard Poissonnière and 45, rue du Sentier in Paris. The 1911 Annuaire de la Curiosité et des Beaux-Arts, a directory of curiosities and fine art, shows that the retailer was a member of the bronze manufacturing trade union.

Intersecting the grand Parisian boulevards, the Comptoir Général was located on the royal route, which under the Second Empire already connected the Madeleine to the Gymnase Theatre. The retailer figured among the great Parisian stores of the late nineteenth-century, providing “free entry” to customers. Strolling from the Place de la Madeleine to the Café des Variétés on Boulevard Montmartre, elegant crowds stopped to admire the store’s display windows, stocked in an abundant and spectacular manner.

The Comptoir Général was contemporary with other great department stores of the period, like the Grands Magasins du Louvre, Bon Marché, and La Samaritaine, and attested to the new forms of commerce developing during the second half of the nineteenth century. These stores became showcases; advertising in newspapers, they offered the consumer a diverse and varied product, displayed in a way that was elaborate and luxurious.

The mark of retailer Maison Henri Riondet on the movement backplate.

Complete with pendulum, bell and a suitable key. Full setting up instructions supplied if required.

Dimensions of clock:

inches: Height 26 1/4", Width 11 1/2", Depth 4 1/2"

centimetres: Height 66.5 cm, Width 29.5 cm, Depth 11.5 cm

Shipping within UK £25

Shipping to USA / Europe £150 by air fully insured

World wide shipping - £225 by air fully insured

Email Julie now to reserve this item! .

BITCOIN - we now accept - please ask and we will send you a coinbase invoice

Phone number - please includes as many email accounts such as hotmail etc automatically junk replies.

Buy now with the Paypal button, even if you dont have a Paypal account! All other payment methods accepted, please see our website for more details or phone Julie now!

World wide shipping by air fully insured. Please see our website for more pictures and video - http://www.Dragon-Antiques.com