French silver Memento Mori skull form watch Circa 1750

Silver skull watch by Jacques Palliard (Paliard or Pailard)
–
A French silver Memento Mori pocket watch shaped like a skull, circa 1750. This watch has a gilded full plate movement, decoratively pierced with foliage motifs, with a French balance cock, a spiral balance, a steel counter pivot, and a silver set up wheel. The engraved silver dial features Roman numeral hours (I–XII) and half hour markers with fleurs de lis signs on a gilt chapter ring. The engraved silver skull shaped case is exteriorly decorated with the allegory of Death, the Birth of Eve, Adam and Eve, and is surrounded by foliage; its interior features a Nativity scene. There are numerous inscriptions in Latin: sit. justitiae satis fecit […] superavit. salutem comparavit, sicut meis sic omnibus idem, tempus ed ax rerum, tu que invidiosa vetustas, scala coeli ad gloriam via. [She has satisfied justice, she has overcome trials, she has prepared salvation; as I treat my relatives, similarly I treat everyone; time devours all things; you too, old age is hungry for you; the watch, time scale is the way to the glory of the sky]
–
Height: 70 mm
–
Signed: No name
–
Jacques Paliard, French watchmaker
Jacques Paliard was born on October 8, 1722, in Beauregard (Doubs), the son of Pierre François Paillard, a farmworker in the town, and his wife Jeanne Claudine Chagrot. He was baptised on October 9, 1718, in Labergement-Sainte-Marie. Jacques Paliard married Charlotte Suzanne Mongenet (1709-1797) on September 11, 1742, in Besançon. Jacques was a watchmaker in the city; his brother, Claude Antoine Paliard, was also a watchmaker who worked in Besançon and Paris. Since the clock shown here does not have the initial of a first name, this clock was likely made by his brother, Claude Antoine.
No descendants of Jacques Paliard are known; he died on January 5, 1787, in Besançon, at 68. His wife Charlotte died on August 3, 1797, in Besançon, at 88.