A SECOND EMPIRE BLUE JOHN CLOCK, French, circa 1870
Height: 22 ½ in; 57 cm
Width: 11 ¼ in; 28.5 cm
Depth: 9 ½ in; 24 cm
Width: 11 ¼ in; 28.5 cm
Depth: 9 ½ in; 24 cm
4416041
£100,000 +
A Second Empire ormolu mounted ‘millers vein’ blue john clock. Blue john ores are restricted in size, and huge pieces like the ones used for this clock are very rare....
A Second Empire ormolu mounted ‘millers vein’ blue john clock.
Blue john ores are restricted in size, and huge pieces like the ones used for this clock are very rare.
Blue john was admired by the Romans, and is still mined in Derbyshire, the only place in the world where it occurs. Today a lot of the stone has been used up, and mining is restricted to a very few locations. This makes blue john a very precious and rare material.
Provenance
Private collection, New York, USA.Literature
Illustrated:
F.J.B. Watson, Director of the Wallace Collection, The Paris collections of Madame B., The Connoisseur magazine, Volume 155, 1964, p. 81, Fig. 16.
Literature:
Trevor D. Ford, Derbyshire Blue John, 2005, pp. 34, 66 & 67; two similar clocks illustrated.
