A fine Cartier silver gilt mounted Spanish Brocatelle marble pendule a cercles tournant timepiececirca 1905The base inscribed Cartier / Paris, with French makers marks and purity marks to mounts. height 9 3/4in (25cm); width over handles 5 1/4in (13.5cm)Provenance: sold Christies London, 16 June 1999, lot 93.Property from the Estate Francis A. Martin III, San Francisco, California, curated by Steven Volpe. Literature: Two of the same model, with varying color marble bodies, are illustrated J. Barracca, G. Negretti and F. Nencini, Le Temps de Cartier. 1989, p. 33.Footnote: Cartier had an established foothold in the watch market in the 19th century. At the turn of the 20th century, Louis Cartier began to focus on producing table clocks, or pendulettes, to rival the work of Faberge. Initially purchasing clocks by the renowned Yahr workshops in Moscow, by 1904 the firm was forcused on Paris based suppliers. The movements for the pendulettes were made almost exclusively by Prevost on the boulevard Sebastopol (ibid, pp 19-20).