CASE: Of stepped rectangular section, the oak carcass with mahogany veneers and gilt-brass banding overall, the balustraded top, with four flambeau fluted vase finials to the angles above a dentil cornice with relief of putti playing a harp, a band of triglyphs and guttae below, the body with fluted pilaster panel below the dial, the hinged sides with red silk panels, the rear with outset circular element for the movement fly-wheel, the plinth with conforming panels, the front with ribbon-tied lyre and crossed horns trophy mount within a beaded border DIAL: the restored 8 inch white enamel dial with Roman hours and outer minute track, three winding holes for the strike, musical and going trains, with typical hour hand modelled as a snake, foliate entwined minute hand and blued steel seconds hand, the convex glazed bezel with beaded border and garlanded with a ribbon-tied laurel swag MOVEMENT: the substantial three-train movement with plates joined by ringed pillars, with pinwheel escapement, maintaining power, rack striking on the hour to a single bell with strike / no strike lever (S/N) , silk suspension and pendulum MUSIC: the barrel held horizontally above the clock movement with bellows above and organ pipes behind, a large fly mechanism to the rear, 30 hammers below striking the strung dulcimer board which sits within the plinth, the right hand side with a lever marked ‘N, 3, 1 Sp’, indicating music silent, playing every third hour or playing every hour, the substantial musical barrel removable; with pendulum; three substantial weights; two case keys; and one ratcheted winding key.
77 in. (195.6 cm.) high overall; 25½ in. (64.8 cm.) wide; 21½ in. (54.6 cm.) deep

Dietrich Fabian, Abraham und David Roentgen, Bad Neustadt, 1996, p. 208, no. 417.

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Lot Essay

ROENTGEN AND KINZING
David Roentgen (1743-1807), maître in 1780. Conceived as a grand architectural monument, this magnificent musical organ clock is a prime example of Roentgen's unrivalled craftsmanship, combining the use of exquisite figured veneers, costly ormolu mounts and ingenious technical devices. It also demonstrates the success of his collaboration with François Rémond (1747-1812), who supplied the ormolu mounts, the clockmaker Peter Kinzing (1745-1816), who provided the movement, and the instrument maker Johann Wilhelm Weyl (1756-1813), who constructed the musical movement.
Peter IV Kinzing was born to a dynasty of clockmakers in Neuwied and married the daughter of the clockmaker Herman Achenbach, partly collaborating with his father-in-law until he took over his workshop in 1772. From 1755, the independent Kinzing workshop was already producing clocks together with the Roentgens (Fabian, op. cit., 1992, p. 44). Almost all of David Roentgen's important clocks were made in collaboration with Kinzing, who also supplied Roentgen with other sophisticated mechanical works, including table pianos. In 1785 Marie-Antoinette purchased a clock from Roentgen and Kinzing for presentation to the Academy of Science and Roentgen was named Ébéniste mécanicien du Roi et de la Reine while Kinzing was named Horloger de la Reine.

JOHANN WILHELM WEYL
Johann Wilhelm Weyl (1756-1813) and his brother Johann Christian Weyl (1758-1827) were musical instrument makers, producing pianos, organs and dulcimers. They collaborated closely with Roentgen and Kinzing, and shared Roentgen's workshops for many years until they set up their own organ business in Neuwied in 1807.

THE ORMOLU MOUNTS
The pediment mounts for these clocks were supplied by the maître doreur François Remond; in 1786 Remond charged Roentgen 384 livres for ‘… 2 bas-reliefs de frontons, composés de deux enfants, une lyre et couronne de laurier à fond très riche…’. (Gillian Wilson, European Clocks in the J. Paul Getty Museum, California, 1996, p. 139.).

RELATED CLOCKS
The present clock is of the same overall design conceived by Roentgen for the majority of his recorded pedestal organ clocks. These show a variety of finished designs using those elements supplied by Remond: two examples at the Hermitage Museum (Inv. E 3.030) and Pavlovsk Palace (A. N. Kuchumov, Pavlovsk Palace & Park, Leningrad, 1975, fig. 189) have a large ormolu figure of Apollo to the top of the case; the triangular pediment, common to all recorded examples; and the kneeling figure of Father Time supporting the dial, as seen in approximately half the known models (as on the clock in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Inv. 85.DA.116, Wilson, op. cit. pp. 132-139). A related example with the same correlating monts to the lower portion is currently part of the Wiemar Castle Collection (Inv. 937.)