.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain, maître fondeur in 1748.
Charles Dutertre, maître in 1758.
This musical clock, with its putto emblematic of Astronomy, above two others representing Poetry and Music, belongs to the celebrated group of allegorical clocks executed by Saint-Germain. Several clocks of this exact model, with either a sprig of foliage or musical trophy centreing the music-box base, are known:- one, with movement by Lechopie, was sold from the collection of Arnold Seligmann, Galerie Jean Charpentier, Paris, 4-5 June 1935, lot 127; another is in the musée Carnavalet, Paris.
Saint-Germain enjoyed the privileges of an ouvrier libre - enabling him to act both as an ébéniste and bronzier. He frequently supplied cases cast with animal forms and alleghorical figures to the leading clockmakers of Paris, including the le Roy workshops, Etienne Lenoir and Jean-Philippe Gosselin. The quality of chasing and modelling in Saint-Germain's animal and foliate decorated cases also suggests close study of the natural world. Evidence of his education is seen in the substantial library and finely organized cabinet of
curiosities he amassed. This collection, in turn, sheds light upon his interests in the natural sciences, particularly botany and mineralogy, and the quality of his bronze casts (J.D. Augarde, 'Jean-Joseph de
Saint-Germain: Bronzier (1719-1791)', L'Estampille/l'Objet d'Art, December, 1996, pp. 63-82).
Charles Dutertre, maître in 1758.
This musical clock, with its putto emblematic of Astronomy, above two others representing Poetry and Music, belongs to the celebrated group of allegorical clocks executed by Saint-Germain. Several clocks of this exact model, with either a sprig of foliage or musical trophy centreing the music-box base, are known:- one, with movement by Lechopie, was sold from the collection of Arnold Seligmann, Galerie Jean Charpentier, Paris, 4-5 June 1935, lot 127; another is in the musée Carnavalet, Paris.
Saint-Germain enjoyed the privileges of an ouvrier libre - enabling him to act both as an ébéniste and bronzier. He frequently supplied cases cast with animal forms and alleghorical figures to the leading clockmakers of Paris, including the le Roy workshops, Etienne Lenoir and Jean-Philippe Gosselin. The quality of chasing and modelling in Saint-Germain's animal and foliate decorated cases also suggests close study of the natural world. Evidence of his education is seen in the substantial library and finely organized cabinet of
curiosities he amassed. This collection, in turn, sheds light upon his interests in the natural sciences, particularly botany and mineralogy, and the quality of his bronze casts (J.D. Augarde, 'Jean-Joseph de
Saint-Germain: Bronzier (1719-1791)', L'Estampille/l'Objet d'Art, December, 1996, pp. 63-82).