Interesting repeating and striking pendule religieuse, 8-day movement, signed on the backplate Balthazar Martinot à Paris, original verge escapement, striking the hours in full and the half hours by one stroke on the large bell, pull repeater on two separate bells, striking the hours and the quarters, to be pulled from both sides of the case, spring locks on the signed back plate of the movement, velvet covered iron dial plate, engraved and gilded brass chapter ring, the minutes numbered on the outer ring from 1 to 60, pierced, engraved and gilded hands,  a large, cast, chased, gilded and divided dial mount bearing the signature, the front of the wooden case covered with inlay of tortoiseshell, brass and tin (contre-Boulle), the panelled sides in red tortoiseshell and tin. Height 57 cm, circa 1680.

Balthazar Martinot came from a large generation of clockmakers, partly from Rouen. He was born in 1636 and died 1716. He was “horloger du Roi et du Conseil” and “Clockmaker to Ann of Austria”. He had his workshop at the “rue de la Calandre” from 1683 to 1687, later at the “quai des Orfèvres”. For more information about the Martinot-dynasty please read Tardy – Dictionaire des Horlogers Français - pages 437 to 445.