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Longcase equation regulator

Clockmaker: Ferdinand Berthoud French
Case maker: Balthazar Lieutaud French
ca. 1752
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 526
French clocks with long pendulums and weights are called régulateurs (regulators). This clock, presented in April 1752 to the Royal Academy of Sciences in Paris, appears to be the first equation clock by Berthoud, who came to specialize in timekeepers showing both solar time, which varies slightly according to the season, and mean solar time, which is stable throughout the year. The trunk of Lieutaud’s case swells just above the base, enclosing a shaped opening to show the pendulum. The curved outline of the case is not only in keeping with the rococo style popular in the mid-eighteenth century but also highlights Berthoud’s cutting-edge technology of the time.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Longcase equation regulator
  • Maker: Clockmaker: Ferdinand Berthoud (French, 1727–1807)
  • Maker: Case maker: Balthazar Lieutaud (French, ca. 1720–1780)
  • Date: ca. 1752
  • Culture: French
  • Medium: Oak veneered with satinwood and kingwood; gilt-bronze mounts, glass, enamel, steel, and brass
  • Dimensions: Overall: 86 1/4 × 24 13/16 × 11 13/16 in. (219 × 63 × 30 cm)
  • Classification: Horology
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Acquisitions Fund, and Annette de la Renta, Mercedes T. Bass, Beatrice Stern, Susan Weber, William Lie Zeckendorf, Alexis Gregory, and John and Susan Gutfreund Gifts, in honor of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 2015
  • Object Number: 2016.28a–e
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

More Artwork

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Longcase astronomical regulator, Ferdinand Berthoud French, Case: oak veneered with ebony and brass, with gilt-bronze mounts; Dial: white enamel; Movement: gilded brass and steel, French, Paris
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Wall clock (cartel), Etienne LeNoir French, Case: soft-paste porcelain and partly gilded brass; Dial: white enamel; Movement: brass and steel, French, Paris with French, Chantilly case
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ca. 1735–40

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