A magnificent clock known as a ‘religious’ clock, characterised by its beautiful Boulle marquetry: brass set against a background of red tortoiseshell.

Richly adorned with gilded bronze fittings, it features an enamelled dial with black Roman numerals for the hours and engraved Arabic numerals for the minutes.
At its centre, highlighting the refinement of high-quality French craftsmanship, it features a very rare detail on clocks of the period, namely the display of the months.

The gilded bronze ornamentation is abundant and particularly elaborate.
Fine chiselling can be seen on the dial, depicting rosettes and foliage scrolls.

On either side of the dial, at each chamfered corner, cherubs wearing shell crowns and holding flutes in their hands are positioned as finials. Carved in high relief with finely executed busts, they are topped by a garland of foliage and gently draw the eye towards the spinning-top-shaped feet, chiselled with foliage motifs.

These are enhanced by highly intricate scrollwork foliage uprights, linked together by a bell-shaped element at the centre (decorative features commonly found in Louis XIV clocks).
These elements add a visual richness that perfectly complements the luminous beauty of the brass and the striking depth of the red tortoiseshell.

Beneath the dial, forming a cartouche for the artist, two classical women hold the dial in one hand and, in the other, a richly decorated jar with a white enamel centre bearing the inscription in black letters: ‘Baltazar Martinot A Paris’

The pediment is framed by a gilded bronze moulding and adorned at each corner with rectangular columns linked by a gilded bronze frieze featuring a motif of masks and scrollwork, and surmounted by small lidded vases decorated with a stylised foliage motif.
It is beautifully decorated with engraved brass figures of scrolls, shells and stylised foliage.
It is surmounted by a frieze decorated with torus-shaped bands featuring floral motifs at their centres, and dominated by two small urns with long necks.

The glass-panelled sides, framed by gilded bronze mouldings, reveal the movement and a repetition lever.

The movement also bears the prestigious signature of ‘Baltazar Martinot à Paris’ (a renowned clockmaker of the period), attesting to the quality and excellence of the clockwork mechanism.


This superb ‘religieuse’ is a masterpiece from the Louis XIV period, characterised by its exquisite Boulle marquetry and fine gilded bronze work. The signature lends this piece significant historical and artistic value.

Beautiful original gilding
Restoration for practical use and maintenance.

Baltazar MARTINOT, MASTER CLOCKMAKER:

The Martinot family were one of the greatest families of clockmakers from the 16th century onwards.

They are described as ‘the longest-lasting dynasty in the history of watchmaking. We are dealing with individuals of exceptional longevity and no less exceptional productivity who, for nearly two centuries, held official posts’ *Dictionnaires des Horlogers*, Tardy, p. 438, Paris, 1971.
They are renowned for their clocks, whose marquetry cases set against a tortoiseshell background were often the work of André Charles Boulle (1642–1732).

Baltazar Martinot (1636–1714) was one of the most distinguished members of this prestigious family. Working as a clockmaker in Paris from 1660, he succeeded his father-in-law, Pierre Belon, in 1665 as valet de chambre and court clockmaker to Anne of Austria, and between 1689 and 1695 served as the King’s clockmaker. Known as ‘the Elder’, he was regarded in his day as one of the most famous clockmakers in the whole of Europe.