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Lot Essay
THE PALAIS DU LUXEMBOURG AND THE TUILERIES
This clock is first mentioned in the April 1793 inventory of the comte de Provence's furniture in the Palais du Luxembourg, Paris. The comte de Provence was the brother of Louis XVI and the future Louis XVIII. The comte de Provence's papers, preserved in the French Archives (Rs 433), record payments of 13,264 livres made by the Prince's Garde-Meuble to Robin for clocks delivered between 1782 and 1783 to the Luxembourg.
The Palais du Luxembourg, which had been given to the comte de Provence and where he lived exclusively between October 1789 and June 1791, was confiscated along with its furnishings in September 1792. The building now houses the French assembly or Senat.
This clock was listed in the aforementioned 1793 inventory with the remark à la commission du Commerce, indicating that it was considered a precious object reserved by the French government to be exchanged against arms, food and other necessities. It was not sold, however and appears again for the first time in the 1807 inventory of the Palais des Tuileries in the Grand Maréchal's bedroom.
une pendule à pilastre, socle en marbre bleu turquin, posé sur le piedouche, guirlandes, consoles renversées, rosastres, cornets d'abondance en cuivre ciselé doré d'or mat. Elle est terminée par deux tortereaux sur branche de laurier. Son cadran porte le nom de Robin
hauteur 36
longeur du socle 33
profondeur 13.
Further recorded at the Tuileries in 1826 under the numbers 6643 and 9364, The clock is last described there in 1855, when it is listed in the Pavillion de Marsan under no 5547, a number which is stamped on the case.
Une pendule bronze ciselé et doré, style Louis XVI, socle en marbre bleu turquin, pieds a boules meplates, frise a rinceaux et branches de lierre, piedestal a console orne de branches de laurier etguirlande de fleurs et fruits, corniche a oves surmontee d'un groupe de tourtereaux movement a sonnerie de robin
ht 0,56 largeur 0,32
prisee 400 francs.
The clock presumably remained in the Tuileries until the Palace was burned in 1871.
THE DESIGN FOR THE CLOCK
The design for this clock, attributed to Vion and composed by Duplessis, is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The principal difference may be seen in the urn which replaces the doves on this clock. Another clock, identical but with its original Bacchic mask to the frieze, almost certainly acquired by Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild, was sold from the collection of the 7th Earl of Rosebery, Mentmore Towers, Buckinghamshire, Sotheby's House Sale, 18 May 1977, lot 67.
Interestingly, this ormolu case is attributed to the fondeur Lemoyne by J-D. Augarde in Les Ouvriers du Temps (op.cit.). Jean-Jacques Lemoyne was elected maître-fondeur-ciseleur on 28th March 1772. He lived in the rue Princesse and worked most notably for the Comte de Montmorency-Laval. Augarde (op. cit.) also states that Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and Mesdames Victoire and Adélaïde owned similar clocks.
This clock is first mentioned in the April 1793 inventory of the comte de Provence's furniture in the Palais du Luxembourg, Paris. The comte de Provence was the brother of Louis XVI and the future Louis XVIII. The comte de Provence's papers, preserved in the French Archives (Rs 433), record payments of 13,264 livres made by the Prince's Garde-Meuble to Robin for clocks delivered between 1782 and 1783 to the Luxembourg.
The Palais du Luxembourg, which had been given to the comte de Provence and where he lived exclusively between October 1789 and June 1791, was confiscated along with its furnishings in September 1792. The building now houses the French assembly or Senat.
This clock was listed in the aforementioned 1793 inventory with the remark à la commission du Commerce, indicating that it was considered a precious object reserved by the French government to be exchanged against arms, food and other necessities. It was not sold, however and appears again for the first time in the 1807 inventory of the Palais des Tuileries in the Grand Maréchal's bedroom.
une pendule à pilastre, socle en marbre bleu turquin, posé sur le piedouche, guirlandes, consoles renversées, rosastres, cornets d'abondance en cuivre ciselé doré d'or mat. Elle est terminée par deux tortereaux sur branche de laurier. Son cadran porte le nom de Robin
hauteur 36
longeur du socle 33
profondeur 13.
Further recorded at the Tuileries in 1826 under the numbers 6643 and 9364, The clock is last described there in 1855, when it is listed in the Pavillion de Marsan under no 5547, a number which is stamped on the case.
Une pendule bronze ciselé et doré, style Louis XVI, socle en marbre bleu turquin, pieds a boules meplates, frise a rinceaux et branches de lierre, piedestal a console orne de branches de laurier etguirlande de fleurs et fruits, corniche a oves surmontee d'un groupe de tourtereaux movement a sonnerie de robin
ht 0,56 largeur 0,32
prisee 400 francs.
The clock presumably remained in the Tuileries until the Palace was burned in 1871.
THE DESIGN FOR THE CLOCK
The design for this clock, attributed to Vion and composed by Duplessis, is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The principal difference may be seen in the urn which replaces the doves on this clock. Another clock, identical but with its original Bacchic mask to the frieze, almost certainly acquired by Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild, was sold from the collection of the 7th Earl of Rosebery, Mentmore Towers, Buckinghamshire, Sotheby's House Sale, 18 May 1977, lot 67.
Interestingly, this ormolu case is attributed to the fondeur Lemoyne by J-D. Augarde in Les Ouvriers du Temps (op.cit.). Jean-Jacques Lemoyne was elected maître-fondeur-ciseleur on 28th March 1772. He lived in the rue Princesse and worked most notably for the Comte de Montmorency-Laval. Augarde (op. cit.) also states that Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and Mesdames Victoire and Adélaïde owned similar clocks.