Longcase astronomical regulator

Longcase astronomical regulator

Ferdinand Berthoud

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Berthoud is considered one of the fathers of the marine chronometer. He became a master clockmaker in Paris and was appointed clockmaker to the French king and navy. One version of an equation clock that registers both solar and mean solar time was Berthoud’s published invention. This clock is one of a series of regulators for which he made precision movements. It has a duration of one month and contains a bimetallic, or gridiron, pendulum. The thick brass and steel rods are mounted too closely together to be completely successful; nevertheless, these clocks were precise enough to be used by astronomers for timing celestial events. The severe neoclassical case with Chinese-style ornamental motifs was designed to display the ponderous swing of Berthoud’s pendulum.


European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.