Exhibition labels & didactics - National Gallery of Victoria

Joseph COTEAU enameller
French 1740–1801
Skeleton clock
Pendule squelette
c. 1793–95
gilt and enamelled bronze (chased), marble
Fondation Napoléon, Paris
Donation Lapeyre inv. 809
On 5 October 1793 the National Convention
instituted a new Republican Calendar.
Based on the decimal system, it divided the
day into ten hours of a hundred minutes each
and replaced the week by a décade of ten
days, a month being formed from three
décades. New names were also given to
these new days and months. This rare clock,
made at a time of transition, employs both
the Gregorian and Republican calendars.
The Republican Calendar endured for
thirteen years before being abolished by
Napoleon in 1805.
© COPYRIGHT
This document remains the property of the National Gallery of Victoria and must be returned upon request. Reproduction in part or in whole is prohibited without written authorisation.
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