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Lot Essay
The scene enacted on this clock was inspired by the painting by François-Guillaume Ménageot 'The Student Who Seeks to Stop Time', displayed at the 1781 Salon (no. 152). The painting was originally believed to be destroyed in 1794, but was later discovered at Trianon in 1810 and moved to the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts. The painting was then re-envisioned by the sculptor Jacques-Edmé Dumont (1761-1844), which became the model for this clock.
There are many known examples of the clock with various bases. One dated from the late eighteenth-century with a movement by Manière is in the collection of the Hôtel de Rothschild and illustrated in Tardy, La Pendule Francaise: Des Origines A Nos Jours, vol. 2, Paris, p. 195; a model from the Bestesigui Collection in the Groussay sale, 3 June 1999, was signed Manière with bronzes attributed to Thomire; and another example dated 1816 with a movement by Lepautre is in the collection of the Palais du Luxembourg (similarly an example of the model of the sculpture in the Louvre is signed Lepaute invenit, Dumont sculpsit). Further examples include one at Embassy of the United Kingdom in Paris, which was delivered to Pauline Borghèse in 1810, and another in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle (RCIN 30005), acquired by George IV in 1812 when Prince of Wales.
There are many known examples of the clock with various bases. One dated from the late eighteenth-century with a movement by Manière is in the collection of the Hôtel de Rothschild and illustrated in Tardy, La Pendule Francaise: Des Origines A Nos Jours, vol. 2, Paris, p. 195; a model from the Bestesigui Collection in the Groussay sale, 3 June 1999, was signed Manière with bronzes attributed to Thomire; and another example dated 1816 with a movement by Lepautre is in the collection of the Palais du Luxembourg (similarly an example of the model of the sculpture in the Louvre is signed Lepaute invenit, Dumont sculpsit). Further examples include one at Embassy of the United Kingdom in Paris, which was delivered to Pauline Borghèse in 1810, and another in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle (RCIN 30005), acquired by George IV in 1812 when Prince of Wales.