Lot Essay
The serpentined and domed case, surmounted by cloud-borne Fame, celebrates the triumph of the Earth goddess Cybele, who reclines with her horn of Plenty. Amongst the other cases of this pattern are two with golden brass-veneer and mother-of-pearl inlay; one incorporating a movement signed by Bernier, Paris, and the other by Antoine Nicolas Duchemin, who is documented in the rue des Arcis between 1741 and 1761 (the former, at Galerie Georges Guitline, illustrated L'Object d'Art, November, 1991, p. 14; the latter sold Etude Couturier-Nicolay, 27 June 1990, lot 139)