Object Description
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Morris and Co, In the style of, An Aesthetic Movement noir belge and red marble gilded mantle or bracket clock with an important Gay Vicarino & Co French brass bell striking 8-day movement, stamped 12100. Of stepped Architectural form with bronze circular mount to the top, stylised gothic floral details to the front upper sides and to the front lower section. (for a similar example See 19th Century Design by Michael Whiteway and Charlotte Gere page 119). The face with gilded Roman Numerals incised into rouge marble, with belge noir marble to the centre with incised and gilded floral details which point to the numbers. Two finely made and gilded hands with a decorated bronze bezel with bevelled glass. Flanked below by a pair of Bronze columns with Ormulo mounts to the top and bottom, all stood on a solid brass foundation.
Emile Gay was listed in 1861 with premises at 20 Red Lion Square, London. He became associate with Vicarino and together they opened a workshop in Paris at 5 rue Beranger. Gay became a member of Chambre Syndicale de l’Horlogerie de Paris, a parisian group of highly regarded clockmakers who met regularly and published a journal documenting their activities. Gay and Vicarino gave awards and recognition for apprentices and workers employed by those clockmakers. [source: Paper by Thomas R. Wotruba on the Patent Surety Roller, on Antiquarian Horology archives]
Gay Vicarino & Co. are also listed in Britten’s “”Old Clocks & Watches and their Makers”” 1864-75 and listed in 1861 with premises at No. 20 Red Lion Square, London. Interestingly in 1861 William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti set up a design business together at No. 8 Red Lion Square, to produce high-quality furniture and fittings using traditional craft methods, is there a connection….
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