THE MOVEMENT BY ROQUE, PARIS, THE ENAMEL DIAL BY GEORGES-ADRIEN MERLET, MID-18TH CENTURY

Details

A LOUIS XV ORMOLU 'EUROPA AND THE BULL' STRIKING MANTEL CLOCK WITH CALENDAR
THE MOVEMENT BY ROQUE, PARIS, THE ENAMEL DIAL BY GEORGES-ADRIEN MERLET, MID-18TH CENTURY
The drum case with flowers and foliage, with figure of Europa above, the sides with trellis quatrefoil pattern silk-backed sound frets, supported on the standing bull figure, the shaped base with further foliage, rockwork and simulated water, the white enamel dial with Roman hours and Arabic five minutes, gilt minute markers, inner ring for days of month, signed to the centre 'Roque / A Paris' and with painted enameller signature to the lower edge and to the reverse 'G. Merlet', pierced gilt hands and blued steel calendar indicator, the twin barrel movement with tic-tac escapement, silk suspension and countwheel strike to bell, the backplate engraved 'Roque A Paris / No.684'
28 1/2 in. (72.4 cm.) high; 20 in. (50.8 cm.) wide; 10 in. (25.4 cm.) deep

Provenance

The Alberto Bruni Tedeschi Collection; Sotheby's, London, 21 March 2007, lot 68 (£54,000).

Special notice

Following the auction, this lot will be stored at Crozier Park Royal and will be available for collection from 12.00pm on the second business day after the sale. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Crozier Park Royal. All collections from Crozier Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 I Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Adrian Hume-Sayer Director, Specialist

Lot Essay

The clock, designed in the Louis XV picturesque manner, celebrates the Triumph of Love and derives from Ovid's Metamorphoses concerning plants, animals and the pagan gods' ability to commune with mortals. Jupiter, the father of the gods, is represented as the loving abductor, who, seeing the nymph Europa gathering flowers by the shore, adopted the guise of a bull to carry her away to the consternation of her companions.

The present clock is a variation on the celebrated model displayed in several collections, typically with a further pair of attendant figures at the base; an example signed by Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain and originating from the Château de Saint-Cloud and the Tuileries, is exhibited at the Musée de Louvre, Paris (OA5168), and illustrated in H. Ottomeyer, P. Proschel, et. al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 125, fig. 2.8.8. Related models with slight variants in the foliage and form from the collections at Schloss Johannisburg, Aschaffenburg and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, are illustrated, ibid. figs. 2.8.7 and 2.8.9.

Joseph Leonard Roque, mâitre 1770, recorded working until 1790.

Georges-Adrien Merlet, 1754-c.1802. The son of a grocer, Merlet was one of the three best known enamellers in Paris during the latter half of the 18th century. The other two were Jean Coteau (1739-1812) and Gobin Etienne, known as Dubuisson.

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