Castel, Jacques Thomas
Contenu
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Nom
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Castel, Jacques Thomas
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Date de naissance
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1710
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Date de mort
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24 January 1772
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Couverture temporelle
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mid-18th century
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Couverture spatiale
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Paris
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Biographie
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Primarily a designer, Castel held a position as 'secrétaire du Roi (1) in the Chancellery of Paris from 28 April 1736 until his death. Working with a mechanician, who may have been Martin Baffert, in his private workshop, Castel produced at least two astronomical clocks, the first in, or incorporating, ivoey, the second driving a sphère mouvante (2). The latter received an approbation from the Académie des Sciences on 9 Sedptember 1766 following a report signed by Jean Baptiste Le Roy and Charles Lemonnier. It was said to have taken him fifteen years to conceive, calculate, and have made. (3). In the following years he developed a back-lit meridian dial of which at least three examples have survived, one dated 1769 (4).
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Notes biographiques
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1. The 'secrétaires du Roi' made up the personel of the Chancellery of France, the main centre of royal administration. In the mid-eighteenth century they numbered 300 to which should be added those in the provincial chancelleries attached to the local parlements. The office, which was largely a sinecure and could be purchased, was coveted for the the many fiscal advantages and exceptions from services attached to it. It was also a. route to noble status. See Jean François Solnon in Bély, 1144-46.
2. Augarde 231-2.
3. Christie's London 22 June 1989, and 8 July 2021 lot 32.
4. MHSO, Cinq siècles 130; Laboratoire de physique du Collège de France; Service Hydrographique de la Marine; (= Instr & Outils 24 no 178; Musée de la Marine, Paris.
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Bibliographie
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Description de la nouvelle sphère mouvante de M. Castel, Secrétaire du Roi. Représante le véritable système du Monde, Paris 1767.
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Adresse ; enseigne ; période ; source
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Rue st Roch, Paris
Rue des Bons Enfants, Paris.
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Identifiant
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1331
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ark:/18469/1st3f