Skeleton "portique" clock, Pillard in Troyes late 18th century

Rare portique skeleton pendulum clock with three dials and annular movement.

Size: H 41cm x W 20cm

Signed under the central dail for the clockmaker Pillard in Troyes (France).

The particularity of the skeleton clock is to let see its mechanism on the reverse and through its openwork dial. Heir to the gantry clock, it is usually composed of an arch supporting one or more dials. This form was a great success in the last years of the eighteenth century and into the first half of the nineteenth century because of the desire of watchmakers to demonstrate their mastery, technical progress, as well as in response to the decorative overload of figurative clocks.