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Lot Essay
This clock is closely related to the model executed by the ciseleur-doreur Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain for the ébéniste Pierre-Antoine Foullet of circa 1760-65, who subsequently marketed the model. The original design from Foullet's livre de desseins is in the Bibliothèque Doucet, Paris. Amongst the first documented neo-classical designs, costing 341 livres, perhaps the earliest recorded was that supplied in around 1765 for the chambre du lit of the duc de Choiseul's hôtel, where it is depicted on the cover of the Choiseul golden box, painted by Louis-Nicolas van Blarenberghe circa 1770.
A related clock was acquired by the banker Robert Child for Osterley Park, Middlesex (Country Life, 11 December 1926, p. 938, fig. 1). Another example after Foullet's design is in the Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon (H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986 vol. I, p. 162, figs. 3.3.6 and 3.3.7), while another one is in the Bouvier Collection at the Musée Carnavalet (Catalogue, no. 90), and a further example with a movement by Henri Voisin is illustrated in Tardy, La Pendule Française, Paris, 1969, vol. II, p. 241. Further examples were sold by the Marquess of Cholmondeley K.C.V.O., M.C., D.L.T. , Christie's London, 12 April 1984, lot 36 and by the Executors of Her Grace, Anne, Duchess of Westminster and members of the Grosvenor Family, Christie's House Sale, Woburn, 21 September 2004, lot 1105.
The Martin signature on the backplate is most probably the one of the horloger Jean Martin who became maître in 1746 and who is recorded successively in the rue de la Monnaie, rue Bétizy and then rue Guénégaud.
A related clock was acquired by the banker Robert Child for Osterley Park, Middlesex (Country Life, 11 December 1926, p. 938, fig. 1). Another example after Foullet's design is in the Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon (H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986 vol. I, p. 162, figs. 3.3.6 and 3.3.7), while another one is in the Bouvier Collection at the Musée Carnavalet (Catalogue, no. 90), and a further example with a movement by Henri Voisin is illustrated in Tardy, La Pendule Française, Paris, 1969, vol. II, p. 241. Further examples were sold by the Marquess of Cholmondeley K.C.V.O., M.C., D.L.T. , Christie's London, 12 April 1984, lot 36 and by the Executors of Her Grace, Anne, Duchess of Westminster and members of the Grosvenor Family, Christie's House Sale, Woburn, 21 September 2004, lot 1105.
The Martin signature on the backplate is most probably the one of the horloger Jean Martin who became maître in 1746 and who is recorded successively in the rue de la Monnaie, rue Bétizy and then rue Guénégaud.