Isaac Thuret, An ebony and red boulle pendule de voyage, French, circa 1685

4½-inch gilt chapter ring with every minute numbered set on a vase-shaped plate signed I.Thuret A Paris with leaf decoration overall, the upper part with a regulation dial, the similarly signed movement with shaped plates, vase pillars, verge escapement and mounted on the backplate with a three armed steel balance and a plain uncut countwheel with steel pointer, the cartouche-shaped case veneered at the front with red tortoiseshell inlaid with pewter and on the sides with plain panels of tortoiseshell within brass line borders, gilt corner finials and cresting pieces.

Time Museum Inventory No. 1138

Isaac Thuret, considered to be the greatest French clockmaker of his time, was born at Senlis about 1630. After serving an apprenticeship he was received as a master clockmaker at Faubourg St. Germain-des-Prés before 1662 and in Paris before 1675. He held a number of royal appointments and worked from various addresses in Paris before taking rooms in the prestigious Galeries du Louvre in January 1686. He died in Paris on April 11, 1706.