Regulator Dieudonne Lhoest

Empire-period (circa 1810) floor-standing regulator of long duration signed D.D. Lhoest à Liege. Cuban mahogany veneer on oak and single pine rear panel for the case. Rear-painted glass dial of large dimension in the Liège fashion, blued steel hour, minute and seconds hands, turned wood and stucco with gold leaf bezel. Six-month duration movement, completely enclosed within sliding brass plates against dust; maintaining power, 9.2kgs weight suspended with a pulley and a gutline, knife-edge suspension in front of the movement, heavy gridiron pendulum with brass and steel rods arranged in the Harrison manner for temperature compensation, with indication on a small glass dial in mid-height.

Dimensions

Height 220cm, width 61cm, depth 35cm.

Dieudonné Lhoest

Dieudonné Lhoest was born in Liège on 18 September 1778, the second son of the clockmaker Nicolas Lhoest and Catherine Polain. He married Marguerite Devigne and was established 1n 1806 in the Rue Saint-Jean-Baptiste, 740, in Liège. He was a pupil and helper of his uncle Hubert Sarton, and became master clockmaker himself. Other examples of his production include a three-dial clock, and a month-winding four-dial regulator. Our regulator bears many hallmarks of Hubert Sarton's workshop, amongst others: the anti-dust plates, the glass dial, the crossing out and dentures of the wheels, and the threads of the big bolts holding the supporting bracket in the case. There is also to be noted that there is another very similar regulator in existence, with almost identical dial, pendulum, movement, and bearing the signature of Dieudonné Lhoest's first cousin and contemporary J. Sarton Fils à Tilleur. (Private collection).

Bibliography

Horlogerie Ancienne, Bibliographie des principaux artistes horlogers-mécaniciens liégeois n°28, Florent Pholien;
Horloges et Horlogers Belges, Eddy Fraiture 2009;
L'Age d'Or de l'Horlogerie Liégeoise, Ann Chevalier et André Thiry 2003;
Les pendules d'Hubert Sarton, 1748-1828, Horloger-Mécanicien, Inventeur, mémoire présenté en 2009 à la Chambre Nationale des Experts Spécialisés en Meubles, Estampes, Livres, Objets d'Art et de Collection, Paris, Jacques Nève 2009.