The Metropolitan Museum of Art

David Roentgen: Nemours Clock

Abraham and David Roentgen were renowned German cabinetmakers whose workshop was famed throughout Europe for its exquisite marquetry work and complex mechanical devices. Proportioned for a stately public room or library, this musical clock is likely to have been the first Roentgen object to reach the United States, belonging to Gouverneur Morris, one of the nation’s founding fathers. Not only does it tell time, but it also displays the interior works, which are hidden in most clocks.

This clock, from The Nemours Foundation, is featured in the exhibition Extravagant Inventions: The Princely Furniture of the Roentgens (on view October 30, 2012–January 27, 2013).

David Roentgen: Long-Case Clock
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The Roentgens' Berlin Secretary Cabinet
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Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Demonstration
(00:02:17) 16792 views

Rolltop Desk by David Roentgen: Animation
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Work table

Martin Carlin (French, near Freiburg im Breisgau ca. 1730–1785 Paris)

Factory:: Porcelain plaques by Sèvres Manufactory (French, 1740–present)
Date:: ca. 1772
Culture:: French
Medium:: Oak veneered with tulipwood, ebony, holly; soft-paste porcelain; gilt bronze
Dimensions:: H. 27-1/4 in. (69.2 cm); Diam. of top 14-1/2 in. (36.8 cm)
Classification:: Woodwork
Credit Line:: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1976
Accession Number:: 1976.155.104

This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 527

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Signature: M. CARLIN J.M.E. (stamped beneath top)

Inscription: Beneath table top on stick-on label written in ink: Cte de Flahault.

Marking: The three curved Sèvres soft-paste porcelain plaques bear the date letter for 1771.
Provenance

Comtesse de Flahaut ; by descent from the Comtesse de Flahaut, Eighth Marquess of Lansdowne
See also
Who
Sèvres Manufactory (695)

Martin Carlin (20)
What
Metal (59,364)

Clay (23,649)

Copper alloy (16,630)

Faience (11,698)

Bronze (11,628)

Porcelain (11,369)

Gilt (9,043)

Wood (7,651)

Furniture (5,725)

Plate (2,675)

Woodwork (2,582)

Soft paste porcelain (2,017)

Ormolu (1,683)

Oak (1,089)

Tables (974)

Ebony (362)

Tulipwood (143)

Holly (62)

Work tables (23)
Where
Europe (148,586)

France (52,276)
When
A.D. 1600-1800 (66,179)
In the Museum
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts (43,257)
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
France, 1600–1800 A.D.

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David Roentgen: Nemours Clock

Work table

Martin Carlin (French, near Freiburg im Breisgau ca. 1730–1785 Paris)

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David Roentgen: Nemours Clock

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Work table

Martin Carlin (French, near Freiburg im Breisgau ca. 1730–1785 Paris)

Met Media

Met Kids

Met Store