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Lot Essay
The signature on the present clock refers to either Etienne Le Noir II (1699-1778), maître 1717, or his son Pierre-Etienne (1724-1789), maître 1743, the two working in partnership from 1750 to 1771. They were fourth and fifth generation members of one of the great Parisian clock-making families. Pierre-Etienne later working alone and then with his son Etienne III .
The celebrated figures representing Night and Day are based upon the marble figures executed by Michelangelo for the tomb of Giuliano de'Medici in the New Sacristy of San Lorenzo in Florence. The allegories subsequently appear, flanking a clock surmounting a cabinet and bookcase, in a drawing attributed to André-Charles Boulle, formerly in the collection of the Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten, Berlin (destroyed in the Second World War).
In 1715, the acte de delaisement from Boulle to his sons mentioned 'les modèles des figures de Michel Ange reparées en bronze et deux autres sortant de la fonte'. Five years later, a fire broke out in the workshops in the courtyard of the Louvre, destroying furniture and part of Boulle’s collection. Amongst his losses were listed '(...toutes les estampes choisies avec soin, répérées plusieurs fois, d’un grand nombre de maistre d’Italie comme Michel Ange Bonarotte …' as well as '..toutes suites de models de terre, cire, plastre de la main des meilleurs sculptures: Michell Ange, François Flamand, Girardon, Leconte et autres …'
The inventory carried out after Boulle's death in 1732 further listed: 'no.90 Les modèles de la pandulle avec les figures de Michel-Ange pezant soizante-uit livre, prisés à raison de cent sols la livre. 340 livres.'
This important model was inventoried in a number of 18th century collections from as early as 1719 when Boulle delivered a bureau plat with cartonnier to Machault d’Arnouville, the cartonnier surmounted by a clock of the same design and closely related to the present lot (descended through the Vogüe family and sold from the collection of Wendell Cherry, Sotheby’s, New York, 20 May 1994, lot 80). In 1720, a further model was delivered by Boulle to the duc de Bourbon, and remained in the collection of the Princes de Condé throughout the 18th century until seized during the Revolution.
Other recorded examples of this celebrated model include a clock in the Archives Nationales de Paris, with a dial by Lepaute, long thought to be the clock from the collection of the Prince de Condé at Chantilly, and two further examples from the Youssoupov collection, in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.
A further clock of this model - albeit dated circa 1720 - the case surmounted by a pair of wings with a serpent, was sold from an anonymous Belgian collection, Christie's, Monaco, December 13, 1998, lot 400 (FF1,552,500), whilst a further related example was sold Sotheby's, New York, 21 May 2004, the Greenberg Collection, lot 31 ($243,200).
The celebrated figures representing Night and Day are based upon the marble figures executed by Michelangelo for the tomb of Giuliano de'Medici in the New Sacristy of San Lorenzo in Florence. The allegories subsequently appear, flanking a clock surmounting a cabinet and bookcase, in a drawing attributed to André-Charles Boulle, formerly in the collection of the Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten, Berlin (destroyed in the Second World War).
In 1715, the acte de delaisement from Boulle to his sons mentioned 'les modèles des figures de Michel Ange reparées en bronze et deux autres sortant de la fonte'. Five years later, a fire broke out in the workshops in the courtyard of the Louvre, destroying furniture and part of Boulle’s collection. Amongst his losses were listed '(...toutes les estampes choisies avec soin, répérées plusieurs fois, d’un grand nombre de maistre d’Italie comme Michel Ange Bonarotte …' as well as '..toutes suites de models de terre, cire, plastre de la main des meilleurs sculptures: Michell Ange, François Flamand, Girardon, Leconte et autres …'
The inventory carried out after Boulle's death in 1732 further listed: 'no.90 Les modèles de la pandulle avec les figures de Michel-Ange pezant soizante-uit livre, prisés à raison de cent sols la livre. 340 livres.'
This important model was inventoried in a number of 18th century collections from as early as 1719 when Boulle delivered a bureau plat with cartonnier to Machault d’Arnouville, the cartonnier surmounted by a clock of the same design and closely related to the present lot (descended through the Vogüe family and sold from the collection of Wendell Cherry, Sotheby’s, New York, 20 May 1994, lot 80). In 1720, a further model was delivered by Boulle to the duc de Bourbon, and remained in the collection of the Princes de Condé throughout the 18th century until seized during the Revolution.
Other recorded examples of this celebrated model include a clock in the Archives Nationales de Paris, with a dial by Lepaute, long thought to be the clock from the collection of the Prince de Condé at Chantilly, and two further examples from the Youssoupov collection, in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.
A further clock of this model - albeit dated circa 1720 - the case surmounted by a pair of wings with a serpent, was sold from an anonymous Belgian collection, Christie's, Monaco, December 13, 1998, lot 400 (FF1,552,500), whilst a further related example was sold Sotheby's, New York, 21 May 2004, the Greenberg Collection, lot 31 ($243,200).