Lot Essay
One of the earliest and finest examples of 18th Century 'Batty' Langley Gothick, Alscot Park was designed by the London architects John Phillipps and George Shakespear circa 1750-1764 for the celebrated antiquarian and President of the Royal Society, James West (d.1772). A friend of Horace Walpole and a protegé of the Duke of Newcastle, West was a pioneer bibliophile and an enlightened connoisseur, who patronised such leading craftsmen as Michael Rysbrack, Thomas Chippendale, Whittle and Norman and John Cobb. Certainly the very scale of this remarkable collection may in part explain his son James's (d.1795) decision to send much of it to Langford's auction room in 1773. The sale of the books took twenty-four days: that of the prints, thirteen, and that of the coins and medals, seven, while the majority of the pictures West acquired were sold over a further four day session
His grandson James, who adopted the surname of Roberts-West in accordance with his father-in-law's will following his marriage to Anne, heiress of Joseph Roberts of Newcombe, Gloucestershire in 1808, inherited Alscot in 1799, and he seems the most probable candidate for the acquisition of this clock. He was certainly familiar with fashionable Regency taste and indeed he commissioned the court architect Thomas Hopper (d.1856), who had carried out alterations at Carlton House for George, Prince of Wales, later George IV, to add a porch in the revitalised Gothick style circa 1820. This magnificent clock relates directly to the Prince Regent's own taste for 'Buhl' furniture and James Roberts-West was certainly financially in the perfect position to capitalise upon the dispersal of the great French Collections following the French Revolution
COMMENTARY:
This remarkable clock is attributed to the Parisian ébéniste Jean-Pierre Latz (circa 1691-1754) and was probably made for the German market on the basis of its similarity to other clocks either stamped by this maker or attributed to him. Latz's work is characterised by bold free-moving sculptural forms richly decorated with exuberant gilt-bronze mounts and often inlaid with complex Boulle marquetry.
Latz was born near Cologne around 1691 and settled in Paris by 1719. He became naturalised in 1736 and obtained the warrant of ébéniste privilégié du roy before 1741. The inventories drawn up following his death in 1754 and his wife's in 1756 indicate that the main activity of his workshop was the production of clock-cases. The 1754 inventory lists one hundred and seventy clock-cases and only forty-eight other pieces of furniture. The 1756 inventory lists ninety-two clock-cases and only thirty-three items of furniture. These were mainly bracket clocks. The majority appear to have been decorated with Boulle marquetry.
Latz is one of the few ébénistes to whom furniture can confidently be attributed on the basis of the ormolu mounts. It is known that he cast and chased his own ormolu mounts on his premises in contravention of guild rules. A report written in 1749 following the seizure of ormolu mounts from his workshop at the instigation of the bronze-caster's guild lists 2,288 different bronze models and parts. This, allied with clock-cases stamped by Latz including one in the Cleveland Museum of Art and another at Waddesdon Manor, both of which are stamped with the C couronné poinçon, formed the basis of Henry Hawley's pioneering examination of this ébéniste's work in 'Jean-Pierre Latz, Cabinetmaker' published in The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum, September-October 1970, pp. 203-259. In addition to the two clocks listed by Hawley op.cit., nos. 1 and 2, is another at Charlottenburg from the collection of Prince Louis-Ferdinand of Prussia.
The Alscot clock exhibits similar Boulle marquetry decoration to the clock in the Cleveland Museum (Hawley, op.cit., no.1). Both are decorated with vine-leaves which interestingly appear on ormolu mounts decorating the doors of numerous encoignures by this maker (Hawley, op.cit., nos. 23 and 24). The tapering form of the pedestal with waisted top is typical of his earlier clocks made between 1740 and 1745.
However the closest parrellel to the Alscot clock is the clock that formerly stood in the Bronzesaal at Potsdam and is now missing, presumably destroyed in the war (Hawley, op.cit., no. 16). This was probably bought in Paris for Frederick II by the comte de Rothenburg. It is interesting to note, therefore, that like the Potsdam clock the Alscot clock originally also had the scrolling twin-light candle-branches. Both clocks share the unusual form of scrolled base, similar Boulle marquetry decoration and ormolu decoration to the front of the pedestal, combined with an identical rim to the pedestal. The clock cases are both of cartouche form with identically-shaped glass front surmounted by a bacchic mask flanked by dragons and surmounted by a figure of Cupid. Hawley records another very similar clock exhibited in 1968 in Gallery 294 of the Hermitage.
It is likely that Latz produced much of his furniture for the German market, and a large proportion of his best works are to be found in Berlin and Dresden. Both Frederick II of Prussia and Augustus III, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, ordered much furniture from Paris and particularly from Latz. These include clocks nos. 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18 and 19 as listed by Hawley. The inventory after the death of Latz lists Monsieur Petit, commissionnaire du Roy de Prusse as one of his creditors. This was probably Mathieu-François Petit and may relate to an unfinished clock intended for the King of Prussia and valued at 1450 livres. He also owed 2127 livres to Monsieur Leleux, agens du Roys de Prusse, who was probably in fact agent to the Elector of Saxony. A contrepartie Boulle marquetry clock by Latz at Schloß Charlottenburg was recently exhibited 'Friedrich der Grosse: Sammler und Mäzen', Munich, 1992/3, Exhibition Catalogue, no. 182. A clock by Latz, probably previously at Schloß Moritzburg, was sold Sotheby's New York, 17 November 1984, lot 175. Another, by Latz, belonging to the Seligmann family, was sold Sotheby's Monaco, 14/15 June 1982, lot 57.
Several of the related clocks discussed in Hawley, op.cit. are punctuated by armorial devices throughout the case and it seems likely that the later Empire lyre-mount at the centre of the trunk may well replace an armorial clasp. This theory is made more plausible by the fact that the lyre-mount would appear to date from circa 1800, which concurs with the known revolutionary fervour of removing all armorial devices from, in particular, pieces of furniture with a Royal provenance
The dial:
signed H. ENDERLIN BASILIENSIS INVENIT ET FECIT within a foliate cartouche beneath the rolling moonphase aperture engraved with the age of the moon and inscribed above AGE ET FACES DE LA LUNE, silvered month calendar sector above with fly-back blued steel hand and further inscribed IOUR DES MOIS, flanked on the right side with an aperture displaying the month inscribed Les Mois, the left aperture indicating the position of the sun in the Zodiac and inscribed Lieu du Soleil, the ground engraved with a trellis design with pounced hatching, the silvered 24-hour chapter ring with Roman and Arabic numerals and with finely pierced blued steel mean time hands, counterpoised gilt sunburst hand indicating solar time, the concentric silvered shutters within inscribed Lever du Soleil and Coucher du Soleil indicating sunrise and sunset at the given time of the year, the dial radius inscribed cadran universal and engraved with 56 worldwide locations with their time differential read off the silvered 24-hour central disc inscribed Heures du Matin Minuit Heures du Soir
The Movement:
signed on the backplate Enderlin Basiliensis Invenit & Fecit 1731, the shaped plates with vase-form pillars, twin-going barrels, later anchor escapement, the strike train quarter chiming on three bells with hour strike on a further bell, the countwheel planted in the backplate, the astronomical work supported on the later Y-shaped bracket having a large equation cam wheel turning yearly and regulating a double split cam above with internal double-ended runners indirectly connected to the giltmetal solar hand, the fly-back calendar operating on a rack system controlled by a large jagged-toothed wheel turning yearly
The Carrillon:
the transverse rectangular movement with two vase-form pillars at the front, gut fusee wound through the side of the case driving the 10 5/8in. (27cm.) long pin barrel with twenty-two hammers playing on eleven bells, the tune selection operated on a silvered arched plaque with blued steel selector hand and inscribed Airs De Carrillon, with eighteen tunes, inscribed La Petite Janetton Menuet 2uitee - Ta/houlette/on-dit-que/vos Parens Et pour quoy donc de sous La Troupe Italienne/La Cabarettier /Gigue Noels/Noels L'esprit /Le/Carillon Marie/Salifson Marche /des/Mousquet La Marionette/tout du long de Le Cordon Bleu La Voisine/, second half 18th Century
The Organ:
the transverse movement activated on the hour via trip linkage to the main movement and with chain fusee wound from the side driving the bellows and 10 5/8in. (27cm.) long wood pin barrel playing on sixteen keys and sounding through forty-eight pipes, second half 18th Century
The Maker:
The Enderlin dynasty of clockmakers flourished in Basel from the second half of the 17th century until the middle of the eighteenth century. The movement of this clock was almost certainly designed and made by H. Enderlin, a native of Basel who moved to Paris certainly by 1715 when he was appointed Horloger de la Cour 1715-23. Enderlin, who contributed an essay on the irregularities of pendulums for Antoine Thiout (maître in 1724), was certainly renowned for his technical sophistication, and indeed Henry Sully (d. 1728), the favourite of the Regent le duc d'Orléans who was appointed by his patron as director of the Manufacture l'Horlogerie he hoped to establish at Versailles, signed his celebrated marine chronometer 'Enderlin de Bâle, faite en 1724, par Monsieur Sully'.
His grandson James, who adopted the surname of Roberts-West in accordance with his father-in-law's will following his marriage to Anne, heiress of Joseph Roberts of Newcombe, Gloucestershire in 1808, inherited Alscot in 1799, and he seems the most probable candidate for the acquisition of this clock. He was certainly familiar with fashionable Regency taste and indeed he commissioned the court architect Thomas Hopper (d.1856), who had carried out alterations at Carlton House for George, Prince of Wales, later George IV, to add a porch in the revitalised Gothick style circa 1820. This magnificent clock relates directly to the Prince Regent's own taste for 'Buhl' furniture and James Roberts-West was certainly financially in the perfect position to capitalise upon the dispersal of the great French Collections following the French Revolution
COMMENTARY:
This remarkable clock is attributed to the Parisian ébéniste Jean-Pierre Latz (circa 1691-1754) and was probably made for the German market on the basis of its similarity to other clocks either stamped by this maker or attributed to him. Latz's work is characterised by bold free-moving sculptural forms richly decorated with exuberant gilt-bronze mounts and often inlaid with complex Boulle marquetry.
Latz was born near Cologne around 1691 and settled in Paris by 1719. He became naturalised in 1736 and obtained the warrant of ébéniste privilégié du roy before 1741. The inventories drawn up following his death in 1754 and his wife's in 1756 indicate that the main activity of his workshop was the production of clock-cases. The 1754 inventory lists one hundred and seventy clock-cases and only forty-eight other pieces of furniture. The 1756 inventory lists ninety-two clock-cases and only thirty-three items of furniture. These were mainly bracket clocks. The majority appear to have been decorated with Boulle marquetry.
Latz is one of the few ébénistes to whom furniture can confidently be attributed on the basis of the ormolu mounts. It is known that he cast and chased his own ormolu mounts on his premises in contravention of guild rules. A report written in 1749 following the seizure of ormolu mounts from his workshop at the instigation of the bronze-caster's guild lists 2,288 different bronze models and parts. This, allied with clock-cases stamped by Latz including one in the Cleveland Museum of Art and another at Waddesdon Manor, both of which are stamped with the C couronné poinçon, formed the basis of Henry Hawley's pioneering examination of this ébéniste's work in 'Jean-Pierre Latz, Cabinetmaker' published in The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum, September-October 1970, pp. 203-259. In addition to the two clocks listed by Hawley op.cit., nos. 1 and 2, is another at Charlottenburg from the collection of Prince Louis-Ferdinand of Prussia.
The Alscot clock exhibits similar Boulle marquetry decoration to the clock in the Cleveland Museum (Hawley, op.cit., no.1). Both are decorated with vine-leaves which interestingly appear on ormolu mounts decorating the doors of numerous encoignures by this maker (Hawley, op.cit., nos. 23 and 24). The tapering form of the pedestal with waisted top is typical of his earlier clocks made between 1740 and 1745.
However the closest parrellel to the Alscot clock is the clock that formerly stood in the Bronzesaal at Potsdam and is now missing, presumably destroyed in the war (Hawley, op.cit., no. 16). This was probably bought in Paris for Frederick II by the comte de Rothenburg. It is interesting to note, therefore, that like the Potsdam clock the Alscot clock originally also had the scrolling twin-light candle-branches. Both clocks share the unusual form of scrolled base, similar Boulle marquetry decoration and ormolu decoration to the front of the pedestal, combined with an identical rim to the pedestal. The clock cases are both of cartouche form with identically-shaped glass front surmounted by a bacchic mask flanked by dragons and surmounted by a figure of Cupid. Hawley records another very similar clock exhibited in 1968 in Gallery 294 of the Hermitage.
It is likely that Latz produced much of his furniture for the German market, and a large proportion of his best works are to be found in Berlin and Dresden. Both Frederick II of Prussia and Augustus III, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, ordered much furniture from Paris and particularly from Latz. These include clocks nos. 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18 and 19 as listed by Hawley. The inventory after the death of Latz lists Monsieur Petit, commissionnaire du Roy de Prusse as one of his creditors. This was probably Mathieu-François Petit and may relate to an unfinished clock intended for the King of Prussia and valued at 1450 livres. He also owed 2127 livres to Monsieur Leleux, agens du Roys de Prusse, who was probably in fact agent to the Elector of Saxony. A contrepartie Boulle marquetry clock by Latz at Schloß Charlottenburg was recently exhibited 'Friedrich der Grosse: Sammler und Mäzen', Munich, 1992/3, Exhibition Catalogue, no. 182. A clock by Latz, probably previously at Schloß Moritzburg, was sold Sotheby's New York, 17 November 1984, lot 175. Another, by Latz, belonging to the Seligmann family, was sold Sotheby's Monaco, 14/15 June 1982, lot 57.
Several of the related clocks discussed in Hawley, op.cit. are punctuated by armorial devices throughout the case and it seems likely that the later Empire lyre-mount at the centre of the trunk may well replace an armorial clasp. This theory is made more plausible by the fact that the lyre-mount would appear to date from circa 1800, which concurs with the known revolutionary fervour of removing all armorial devices from, in particular, pieces of furniture with a Royal provenance
The dial:
signed H. ENDERLIN BASILIENSIS INVENIT ET FECIT within a foliate cartouche beneath the rolling moonphase aperture engraved with the age of the moon and inscribed above AGE ET FACES DE LA LUNE, silvered month calendar sector above with fly-back blued steel hand and further inscribed IOUR DES MOIS, flanked on the right side with an aperture displaying the month inscribed Les Mois, the left aperture indicating the position of the sun in the Zodiac and inscribed Lieu du Soleil, the ground engraved with a trellis design with pounced hatching, the silvered 24-hour chapter ring with Roman and Arabic numerals and with finely pierced blued steel mean time hands, counterpoised gilt sunburst hand indicating solar time, the concentric silvered shutters within inscribed Lever du Soleil and Coucher du Soleil indicating sunrise and sunset at the given time of the year, the dial radius inscribed cadran universal and engraved with 56 worldwide locations with their time differential read off the silvered 24-hour central disc inscribed Heures du Matin Minuit Heures du Soir
The Movement:
signed on the backplate Enderlin Basiliensis Invenit & Fecit 1731, the shaped plates with vase-form pillars, twin-going barrels, later anchor escapement, the strike train quarter chiming on three bells with hour strike on a further bell, the countwheel planted in the backplate, the astronomical work supported on the later Y-shaped bracket having a large equation cam wheel turning yearly and regulating a double split cam above with internal double-ended runners indirectly connected to the giltmetal solar hand, the fly-back calendar operating on a rack system controlled by a large jagged-toothed wheel turning yearly
The Carrillon:
the transverse rectangular movement with two vase-form pillars at the front, gut fusee wound through the side of the case driving the 10 5/8in. (27cm.) long pin barrel with twenty-two hammers playing on eleven bells, the tune selection operated on a silvered arched plaque with blued steel selector hand and inscribed Airs De Carrillon, with eighteen tunes, inscribed La Petite Janetton Menuet 2uitee - Ta/houlette/on-dit-que/vos Parens Et pour quoy donc de sous La Troupe Italienne/La Cabarettier /Gigue Noels/Noels L'esprit /Le/Carillon Marie/Salifson Marche /des/Mousquet La Marionette/tout du long de Le Cordon Bleu La Voisine/, second half 18th Century
The Organ:
the transverse movement activated on the hour via trip linkage to the main movement and with chain fusee wound from the side driving the bellows and 10 5/8in. (27cm.) long wood pin barrel playing on sixteen keys and sounding through forty-eight pipes, second half 18th Century
The Maker:
The Enderlin dynasty of clockmakers flourished in Basel from the second half of the 17th century until the middle of the eighteenth century. The movement of this clock was almost certainly designed and made by H. Enderlin, a native of Basel who moved to Paris certainly by 1715 when he was appointed Horloger de la Cour 1715-23. Enderlin, who contributed an essay on the irregularities of pendulums for Antoine Thiout (maître in 1724), was certainly renowned for his technical sophistication, and indeed Henry Sully (d. 1728), the favourite of the Regent le duc d'Orléans who was appointed by his patron as director of the Manufacture l'Horlogerie he hoped to establish at Versailles, signed his celebrated marine chronometer 'Enderlin de Bâle, faite en 1724, par Monsieur Sully'.