Thirteen Piece Dial

A form of enamel dial fashionable in France c. 1750, composed of twelve wedge-shaped car-touches bearing the hour numerals, fitting closely around a circular domed centerpiece painted with the maker's name. Enamelled hour plaques, set in a gilt-bronze frame and having a gilt-bronze centerpiece, had been popular since the late 17th century. The enamelling was done in specialist workshops, the white ground being produced by an enamel with pewter oxide, the black, or more rarely blue, numbers being added as a final firing. About 1715 a white enamelled center to the dial became fashionable, but the bronze frame persisted, and it was not until 1740 that reference is made to a clock with a dial entirely of enamel. The 13-piece construction was necessary because of the technical difficulties in producing large enamelled dials, difficulties which were not overcome until later in the century.