A fine and rare late 19th Century French porcelain-panelled Carriage clockVictor Reclus, ParisThe Anglaise Riche case with ribbed handle over rectangular inspection panel and repeat button, set to the corners with elaborate silvered and gilt caryatide columns framing the three polychrome panels depicting Classical women and putti, on a stepped base. The white Roman chapter ring with blued steel fleur de lyse hands. The two train movement with rack striking on a gong and a silvered English lever platform escapement with timing screw adjusted balance. Ticking and striking. Together with a double-ended winding key. 21cms (8 ins) highFootnotes:Victor Reclus was born in Bergerac in 1831, the son of a cutler. Aged 25 he opened up a horology shop on the Rue Dauphine in Paris, and in March 1856 he filed his first patent 'For a type of meter for carts'. He moved his workshop to the Rue des Lavandières-Sainte-Opportune in 1858, then the Rue du Temple in 1860. Concurrently he took out patents for, among other things, an aerial telegraphy system (Feb. 1857) and an alarm clock (Aug. 1858). At his height, he was employing a few dozen workers in his workshop. He developed a trademark for his clocks and watches (a sunburst with the initials VR) and a separate one for his barometers (and R in a lozenge shape). He entered work in two of the Universal Exhibitions, 1878 (where he won two silver medals) and 1889 (where he won one gold). It was around this time that he became interested in electric horology, and electricity in general. On 1 October 1886 he took out a patent in London (Patent #12,491) for 'Improvements in Electric Clocks'. This patent involved a four-arm cam on the escape wheel receiving impulse from two springs held electrically taught, thus imparting 'constant force'. In 1896, his electric clock modifications were part of the International Society of Electricians exhibition and by 1897 he was on the electric lighting admissions panel for the 1900 Universal Exhibition. By 1905 he had moved back to the Dordogne region and was still practicing horology. He is listed in the 1920 census for the region, but no reference to him has been found after 1926.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ** VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.