Lot Essay
The Dutertre family were known Parisian horlogers beginning with Jean-Baptiste Dutertre working in Paris by 1713. The present clock was executed by his son, Jean-Baptiste II, who succeeded his father in 1735.
Closely related clocks à la Mongolfière, celebrating the first flight of the Montgolfier brothers' hot air balloon, are illustrated in Tardy, La Pendule Française, 1949, vol. II, pp. 296-297, figs. 1-5, and in P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dorés Français du XVIIIe Siècle, 1987, p. 121, fig. 156. A clock of similar design in the collection of Dr. Anella Brown was sold Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, 23 April 1977, lot 124.
After several experimental ascents, J.F. Pilâtre de Rozier, the world's first aeronaut, made the first free flight, accompanied by the marquis d'Arlandes, in Joseph and Étienne Montgolfier's hot air balloon on November 21, 1783 from the gardens of the Château de la Muette. They were carried by the wind across Paris at a height of approximately 300 feet, and landed safely after twenty-five minutes, having travelled a distance of over five and a half miles.
Closely related clocks à la Mongolfière, celebrating the first flight of the Montgolfier brothers' hot air balloon, are illustrated in Tardy, La Pendule Française, 1949, vol. II, pp. 296-297, figs. 1-5, and in P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dorés Français du XVIIIe Siècle, 1987, p. 121, fig. 156. A clock of similar design in the collection of Dr. Anella Brown was sold Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, 23 April 1977, lot 124.
After several experimental ascents, J.F. Pilâtre de Rozier, the world's first aeronaut, made the first free flight, accompanied by the marquis d'Arlandes, in Joseph and Étienne Montgolfier's hot air balloon on November 21, 1783 from the gardens of the Château de la Muette. They were carried by the wind across Paris at a height of approximately 300 feet, and landed safely after twenty-five minutes, having travelled a distance of over five and a half miles.