Raingo orrery clock
from: http://www.trevorphilip.com/
A very rare Raingo orrery clock
A wonderful and very rare Empire gilt bronze mounted mahogany orrery clock made by Raingo, the silvered engine-turned dial with outer Roman numerals and inner ring marked with the days of the week, with fine blued steel hands for the hours, minutes and days of the week. The precision movement signed Pons of eight-day duration, striking on the hour and half hours with outside count wheel, with a fine compensated gridiron pendulum. The extremely fine gilt bronze mounted mahogany veneered case with main dial and movement suspended between four circular mahogany pillars with gilt bronze Doric capitals and bases surmounted by a circular entablature with an outer mahogany and gilt bronze ring mounted with gilt bronze signs of the zodiac and inner silvered ring engraved with the days and names of the month and the four year cycle, the entablature supporting the orrery of four year duration, consisting of rotating spheres representing the sun, earth and moon which are driven from the clock but with its own supporting power system for the four year duration and having its own four year leap cycle gilt dial, with a mahogany handle below for manual operation, the pillars supported on a circular mahogany and trellis-cast gilt bronze base.
Paris, date circa 1815-25. Height 69 cm, diameter of base 35 cm.
Zacharie-Nicholas-Amé-Joseph Raingo (b. circa 1780), who executed a number of fine domestic clocks, is best known as the most important nineteenth century maker of orrery clocks. Indeed Raingo’s orrery clocks proved so superior that his name has become synonymous with this type of clock.