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Lot Essay
This clock belongs to a series of high quality skeletonised table regulators produced in France at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th Century. Examples are recorded with the signatures of such eminent clockmakers as Breguet and Robin, although the name of Lépine is most commonly seen and it is entirely possible that all were made by him. Two weight-driven examples by him are illustrated in D. Roberts, Continental and American Skeleton Clocks, Pennsylvania, 1989, pp. 62-63 along with spring-driven examples with remontoire by Breguet (p. 66 and 124).
Jean-Antoine Lépine (1720-1814) took his son-in-law Pierre-Claude Raguet (1753-1810) into business in 1783. Raguet-Lépine, who signed his work Lépine) took over in 1784, paying his father-in-law a yearly life annuity of 4000 francs from 1796. He probably started numbering his clocks from 4000 and according to J-D. Augarde all clocks signed 'Lépine Place des Victoires' are his (Les Ouvriers du Temps, Geneva, 1996, p. 355). He supplied many clocks to the comte de Provence and to Louis XV's daughters; in 1810 his clients included Napoleon I, Empress Josephine and Charles IV of Spain. See also lot 101.
Jean-Antoine Lépine (1720-1814) took his son-in-law Pierre-Claude Raguet (1753-1810) into business in 1783. Raguet-Lépine, who signed his work Lépine) took over in 1784, paying his father-in-law a yearly life annuity of 4000 francs from 1796. He probably started numbering his clocks from 4000 and according to J-D. Augarde all clocks signed 'Lépine Place des Victoires' are his (Les Ouvriers du Temps, Geneva, 1996, p. 355). He supplied many clocks to the comte de Provence and to Louis XV's daughters; in 1810 his clients included Napoleon I, Empress Josephine and Charles IV of Spain. See also lot 101.