Michel-François Piolaine

This is the signature of Michel-François Piolaine, one of the foremost Parisian clockmakers of the late 18^th and early 19^th century. After being received maître on August 11, 1787, he opened a workshop in the rue des Ecrivains, and was later recorded in the rue des Gravilliers from the year 7 (1798)  to 1810 (see Tardy, Dictionnaire des horlogers parisiens, Paris, 1971, p. 523). After his death around 1815, his widow appears to have continued to run the workshop from 1817 to 1820. A clock made by Piolaine was formerly in the Berlin Schlossmuseum; two others are in the François Duesberg Museum in Mons and the British Royal Collection in Windsor Castle.