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Lot Essay
Although the bronzier Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain typically used the stamp ST GERMAIN, an animalier clock clock signed S. GERMAIN is in the Musée du Louvre and illustrated in D. Alcouffe, et. al. Gilt Bronzes in the Louvre, Paris, 2004.
Saint-Germain (1719-1791) frequently supplied cases cast with animal forms and allegorical figures to the leading clockmakers of Paris, including Julien Le Roy, Etienne Lenoir and Gosselin who placed their own movements in his cases. Saint-Germain enjoyed the unique privileges of an ouvrier libre- enabling him to act both as an ébéniste and bronzier. Maître in 1748, and active 1741-1776, Saint-Germain started to commercialize this model shortly before 1747. A related clock to the example offered here but with a patinated bronze elephant, is illustrated in H. Ottomeyer/P. Pröschel,Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 123, and similar examples with patinated bronze elephants have sold anonymously Christie's New York, 23 October 2003, lot 710, and from Partridge, Christie's New York 17 May 2006, lot 13.
Saint-Germain (1719-1791) frequently supplied cases cast with animal forms and allegorical figures to the leading clockmakers of Paris, including Julien Le Roy, Etienne Lenoir and Gosselin who placed their own movements in his cases. Saint-Germain enjoyed the unique privileges of an ouvrier libre- enabling him to act both as an ébéniste and bronzier. Maître in 1748, and active 1741-1776, Saint-Germain started to commercialize this model shortly before 1747. A related clock to the example offered here but with a patinated bronze elephant, is illustrated in H. Ottomeyer/P. Pröschel,Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 123, and similar examples with patinated bronze elephants have sold anonymously Christie's New York, 23 October 2003, lot 710, and from Partridge, Christie's New York 17 May 2006, lot 13.