Clock

LOUIS XVI MUSICAL CLOCK 

Louis XVI mahogany brass-mounted musical clock. Cabinetwork by David Roentgen c.1775-1800. Clockwork and musical portion by Peter Kintzing. Raised on a brass-fluted column surmounted by gilt bronze bow-knotted drapes above a plinth base; top surmounted by gilt bronze putti and mythological groups, the white enamel dial with black Roman and Arabic numerals surmounted by a tune selector; on the right side facing the clock face the brass movement is signed "Kintzing a Neuwied" . Fitted with a bellows and wooden pipes which work as a pipe organ. It originally had a dulcimer behind the music cylinder which

plays four different tunes. The cylinder can be removed and a different cylinder put in with another set of tunes on it. Four beveled glass doors, one each side, allow access to clock. Musical clocks were very popular in the 18th century with composers such as Handel and Mozart writing pieces for them. Clocks such as this, however, would have been only affordable to the extremely wealthy. This clock was said to have belonged to Marie Antoinette. It was brought to this country by Gouvernour Marshall, Minister to France in Marie Antoinette's day; after being owned by many other people, it was purchased by Alfred I. duPont in 1919 from Ferdinand Keller, in Philadelphia, PA (S#7) Cylinder (a) in clock; (b & c) in Box 83.27.1 FFA/needlework closet. 83.27.1 moved to curator's office closet 6/16/97 along with miscellaneous other parts returned with the clock when it was restored.

NOTE: Research conducted during the restoration of the clock has cast some doubt upon the idea that Marie Antoinette actually accepted delivery of our clock. According to Arthur W.J.G.Ord-Hume in his book "Restoring Musical Boses and Musical Clocks" our Clock is "An outstanding compound clock made in Neuweid-on-Rhine by Peter Kintzing in collaboration with... renowned cabinet-maker Roentgen. Each four-tune brass barrel plays on a nineteen-note single rank of pipes and a twenty-seven-note dulcimer. The musical arrangements use both the organ and dulcimer in a singularly inventive way with the stringed

instrument performing not a unison accompaniment, but as full three-part harmony and continuo. Kintzing's connection with the French Court at the time of Louis XVI seems to have instilled in him a love of the music of Christoph Willibald Gluck, the German-born composer who was, at one time, musical mentor to Marie Antoinette. A number of Kintzing's musical clocks play arrangements of Gluck's music. This clock, a gift to the American Ambassador from the Court which deposed Marie Antoinette and disposed of all the Royal property, [NOT CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN MARSHALL BUT GOUVERNOR MARSHALL] is identical with several other clocks of this exact design, one of which is in the Musee National des Techniques of the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers in Paris. The mechanism is identical with musical clocks produced in the same town at the same time, but signed by other makers. Like many other clockmakers,

Kintzing may have made components for other 'makers'." A complete report will be submitted by Steve and Jere Ryder of AutaMusique and Arthur-Ord Hume in the near future. 

4/23/99 changed Cylinder 5 for 1.

Per Derek Ostergard, January 2003: Clock appears to have sustained significant losses on the back where the lower portion has lost its access door. In addition the cornice has lost its veneer and finish as well. Mahogany veneers appear to have been scraped and traumatized by loss and the upper portion of the clock case does not appear to be positioned properly on the two fluted engaged columns. Additionally the three gilt bronze Amorini are of 19th century production and are not original to this piece nor are the two putti figures found on the cornice as well. The ribbons and festoons which are executed from what looks to be a copper based substance do not appear to have been cast in the 18th century and it is questionable how they rest against the fluted columns whereby odd negative space are created at the junction of these elements and the concave elements of the columns. In addition the festoons themselves have backs to them which fully enclose these elements, again a device not found in 18th century ormolu. Also there are two strange elements at the terminus of each one of these decorative binders which project awkwardly and are not part of the composition itself. 

Spare cylinders stored in curator's office closet

CLOCK IS MAINTAINED BY JEREMIE RYDER: 973.623.0558

Loaned to The Metropolitan Museum of Art for the exhibit "Extravagant Inventions: The Princely Furniture of the Roentgens" October 27, 2012 - January 29, 2013. See file for all details.

Purchased from Ferdinand Keller, 216 South 9th St., Philadelphia. Keller says in letter 11/23/1917 (Nemours Correspondence File #652) that it was from the collection of the late John G. Watmough.