A CLOCK AND PAIR OF CANDELABRA WITH CHINOISERIE FIGURES ATTRIBUTED TO MARTIN FRÈRES (LOTS 115-116) France's long fascination with the Orient dates back to the mid-17th century, when lacquered screens, porcelains and other wares were imported and adapted into some of the rarest, most sophisticated objects produced in the 17th and 18th centuries. Parisian marchands-merciers such as Thomas-Joachim Hébert, Simon-Philippe Poirier and Lazare Duvaux sought to capitalize on the huge demand for these rare objects, and created their own versions of these prized imports. Using them for inspiration, along with contemporary engravings of the Chinese Emperor's court and designs by ornemantistes, the marchands-mercier created and promoted their own distinct aesthetic, the goût chinios, which was realized by a network of highly skilled artisans. These fanciful works were prized by the court of Louis XV and particularly by the celebrated connoisseur and Royal mistress, Madame du Pompadour, whose passion for chinoiserie and Japanese lacquer is well-documented. This magnificent clock and pair of candelabra represent the height of the gout chinois with their ormolu mounts and bronze magot figures deliberately decorated to resemble the finest Japanese bronze lacquer. Although there is no mark to concretely identify their maker or the date of their manufacture, there is a cartonnier with closely related magot figures by BVRB in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (83.DA.280). The ormolu mounts are stamped with the C' couronné poinçon and as this mark was used from 1745-1749, the present clock and candelabra must have been made about a year later. There must have been several makers who created lacquered magot figures simply to satisfy the huge demand for le goût chinois, but their fluid forms, the fineness of their decoration and existing contemporary documentation leads to the attribution to Martin Frères. They dominated this field to the point that all French-made lacquer became known as vernis Martin, a term that continues today. Martin Frères were granted a Royal patent to protect their technique as well as a further patent in 1744 to produce lacquer wares 'en relief dans le goût du Japon et de la Chine'. By 1748, they had opened the manufacture Royale de vernis de la Chine. Martin Frères are cited in the 1753 inventory for the Comtesse de Mally. Number 443 is described as ...pendule faitte par Pierre Le Roy dans une boete de bronze doré avec trois pagodes et au bouquet verny de Martin prisée 400 livres (A. Forray-Carlier and M.Kopplin eds., Le Secrets de la Laque Française Musée Des Arts Decoratifs, Paris 2013, p. 100) but the 1768 sale catalogue by Pierre Rémy for the Collection of Monsieur Gaignat is particularly telling. Lot 188 in that sale is described as 'Une trés belle et grande pendule ornée de plusieurs figures de cuivre représentant des magots vernis par Martin, imitant le laque'. The specialist for that sale was the marchand Simon-Philippe Poirier, who having worked with the Martins, could clearly identify their wares. For a further analysis of objets d'art with lacquered bronze figures, see T. Wolvesperges, "A propos d'une pendule aux magots en vernis Martin du Museée du Louvre provenant de la collection Grog-Carven," Revue du Louvre, 2001, pp.67-78. GEORGE BLUMENTHAL Like the grand connoisseurs and collectors of the 18th century, George Blumenthal (1858-1941) continued the tradition of patronage and collecting. A German emigrée whose genius for foreign exchange while working for Lazard Frères in New York made both his fortune and his reputation as one of Wall Street's most respected financiers, Blumenthal retired from finance in 1925. With his wife, Florence Meyer Blumenthal (d.1930), they devoted themselves to art and philanthropy which became their most important legacy. Though largely unknown today, George Blumenthal's influence equaled that of his most famous contemporary, J. Pierpont Morgan. Blumenthal also donated significant funds to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, served as its President from 1935-1941 and left the Museum the contents of his palatial New York mansion--over seven hundred works, including significant Italian Renaissance paintings, early works of art and decorations. The Blumenthals did not exclusively collect early works; their Paris hôtel particulier was filled with paintings by 18th century artists such as Fragonard, Boucher and Watteau, as well as equally important French furniture and works of art. Florence Blumenthal died in 1930, and the contents of their home, including this clock and pair of candelabra, were sold by Georges Petit two years later. However, it was the Blumenthal's chance meeting with the French designer Armand-Albert Ratteau (1882-1938) on an ocean liner in 1919 en route to France that resulted in the creation of one of the icons of the Art Deco era and gave the Blumenthal name lasting fame. The Blumenthals were Ratteau's first patrons and commissioned him to design a suite of furniture for the patio by the swimming pool of their New York mansion. Ratteau created six armchairs, two tables and a lamp for them, all cast in bronze with marine life and seashell motifs based on ancient Greco-Roman forms. This suite of furniture launched Ratteau's independent career and his work with bronze which became his signature. The armchair from this suite, design no. 1793, is the Art Deco icon that is known today as the Blumenthal armchair.

A LOUIS XV PORCELAIN-MOUNTED, PATINATED AND POLYCHROME-DECORATED VERNIS MARTIN, BRONZE AND ORMOLU MANTEL CLOCK

THE FIGURES ATTRIBUTED TO MARTIN FRERES, THE MOVEMENT BY ETIENNE LE NOIR, CIRCA 1750

Details

A LOUIS XV PORCELAIN-MOUNTED, PATINATED AND POLYCHROME-DECORATED VERNIS MARTIN, BRONZE AND ORMOLU MANTEL CLOCK
THE FIGURES ATTRIBUTED TO MARTIN FRERES, THE MOVEMENT BY ETIENNE LE NOIR, CIRCA 1750
Decorated overall with porcelain flowerheads, surmounted by a seated figure female supported by two crouching male figures, on a naturalistically cast rockwork base, the white enamel dial with Roman hours and Arabic minutes and signed to the center Estienne Le Noir/A Paris, pierced gilt hands, the twin barrel movement joined by four tapering ring pillars with anchor escapement, with silk suspension and regulation, outside numbered countwheel and strike on bell, the backplate signed Estienne Le Noir A Paris and numbered 279, the female figure formerly with a parasol
13 in. (33 cm.) high, 12 in. (30.5 cm.) wide, 6 in. (15 cm.) deep

Provenance

The Collection of George Blumenthal; Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1-2 December 1932, lot 79 (to M. Lacroix, sold together with a pair of candelabra, being sold here as lot 116).

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Lot Essay

Only a handful of clocks with three magots are known to exist and all contain works by important clock makers of the time, including Julien Le Roy, Pierre Le Roy, Etienne LeNoir, de Mesnil, Gudin and Baillon. They were richly decorated and often adorned with Meissen or Vincennes floral porcelain mounts or occasionally with porcelain of French provincial manufacture such as Mennecy.

Etienne II Lenoir (1699-1778), the maker of this clock, practiced in Paris under the name Etienne Lenoir. He established his workshop in 1717 and his son Pierre Etienne joined him from 1750 and they succeeded in building a considerable fortune.

Related clocks with lacquered figures attributed to Martin Frères include:

An identical clock with a movement also by Le Noir but with a pull mechanism, which was almost certainly supplied to Prince Charles de Lorraine and was sold in the collection of Magnificent French Furniture formerly in the Collection of Monsieur and Madame Riahi at Christie's, New York, 2 November 2000, lot 8 ($303,000).

One in the Louvre Museum, from the Grog-Carven Collection, with movement by Pierre Le Roy.

One from the Collection of Martin Alexander, sold Christie's, New York, 30 April 1999, lot 35 and subsequently sold anonymously at Christie's, New York, 20 April 2007, lot 154 ($168,000).
One, part of a garniture including a pair of candelabra, with movement by Thiot, sold from the Collection of Jaime Ortiz Patiõ, Sotheby's, New York, 20 May 1992, lot 7 ($319,000).

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