A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU, PATINATED-BRONZE AND WHITE MARBLE MANTEL CLOCK
A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU, PATINATED-BRONZE AND WHITE MARBLE MANTEL CLOCK

THE MOVEMENT SIGNED 'POCHON A PARIS', AFTER A DESIGN BY FRANÇOIS REMOND, CIRCA 1780

Details
A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU, PATINATED-BRONZE AND WHITE MARBLE MANTEL CLOCK
THE MOVEMENT SIGNED 'POCHON A PARIS', AFTER A DESIGN BY FRANÇOIS REMOND, CIRCA 1780
The white enamel Arabic dial with pierced and chased ormolu hands, blued steel sweep seconds, the movement with twin spring barrels and pinwheel escapement mounted on the backplate, later pendulum regulation, signed 'Pochon a Paris', countwheel strike on a bell, the circular drum case surmounted by an eagle and flanked by figures representing La Science and L'Etude, the shaped rectangular base with rounded ends mounted with a central bearded male flanked by foliate scrolls and concave medallions with Apollo's mask, on gadrooned bun feet, the bell signed in black ink '...Foulli..', dial and hands of later date
27 in. (69 cm.) long

Lot Essay

Jean-Charles Pochon, Paris, worked at Enclos St-Martin des champs, 1780.

This clock, entitled L'Etude et la Philosophie was an enormously successful and popular model in the late 18th century. It derives from a drawing in a catalogue produced by François Rémond, circa 1785, which incorporates figures designed and supplied to the Sèvres factory for reproduction in biscuit porcelain by the sculptor Simon-Louis Boizot. Rémond was one of the most celebrated ciseleurs-doreurs during the reign of Louis XVI and counted amongst his distinguished clientèle the comte d'Artois and the princesse Kinsky. Between February 1784 and October 1787, Rémond sold at least thirty-two versions of this model to Dominique Daguerre (J.D. Augarde, Les Ouvriers du Temps, 1997, p. 175). In 1788 Daguerre delivered three of these clocks, with movements by Sotiau, to Louis XVI at the château de Saint-Cloud.

Three virtually identical clocks are in the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace. One with a movement by Lépine is illustrated in J. Harris, G. de Bellaigue and O. Millar, Buckingham Palace, New York, 1968, p. 165. The other two, both with movements by Sotiau, one with figures in patinated bronze and the other with figures in biscuit porcelain are illustrated in C. Jagger, Royal Clocks - The British Monarchy and its Timekeepers 1300 - 1900, London, 1983, pp. 154 - 155; of these, at least one was acquired by George, Prince of Wales for the East Ante Room at Carlton House, before being moved via Vulliamy to Windsor Castle in 1828 (H. Roberts, For The King's Pleasure, The Furnishing and Decoration of George IV's Apartments at Windsor Castle, London, 2001, fig. 213). A fourth is at Versailles (H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 295, figs. 4.17.5 and 4.17.6.); a fifth is in the Quirinale Palace (A. Gonzàlez-Palacios, Il Patrimonio artistico del Quirinale, Gli Arredi Francesi, Milan, 1996, p. 308).

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