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Lot Essay
Charles Cressent (1625-1707), maître sculpteur in 1714.
THE CARTEL CLOCKS OF CHARLES CRESSENT
One of Charles Cressent's grandest and most ambitious works, this massive, spectacular cartel clock is nearly unmatched in movement, technical virtuosity and life, eliding the boundaries between functional object and naturalistic sculpture and embodying the Rococo style at its most advanced and inventive. Born in Amiens, Charles Cressent (1685-1768) was exposed to both the art of sculpture and craft of furniture from birth, as the son of the sculpteur du Roi, François Cressent (1663-1745), and grandson of the menuisier, Charles Cressent (1625-1707). Based in the suburbs of Paris in 1711, Cressent worked for the sculptors Girardon and le Lorrain in 1714, was elected maître sculpteur of the Saint Luc Academy on 14 August 1714, and subsequently qualified as an ébéniste after his marriage to the widow of Joseph Poitou (formerly ébéniste du Régent) in 1719. Having enlarged the workshop considerably, Cressent was in turn appointed as ébéniste du Régent to the duc d'Orléans, and soon attracted a roster of elite clientele comprising mainly financiers, as well as Royal and aristocratic patrons including the two successive ducs d'Orléans, King John V of Portugal, Prince Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria, the duc the Richelieu and the marquis de Marigny.
Cressent owed much of his success to the sumptuous and sculptural mounts he created for his furniture, as well as the fantastical bronzes d’ameublement he devised. Guild regulations permitted him to create these designs, but required that they be executed by independent fondeurs and doreurs. He was prosecuted in 1723, 1733 and 1743 for violating these rules, infringing the boundaries between ébénisterie the doreurs-ciseleurs' livelihood. Cressent also further faced sporadic financial difficulties and was compelled to hold auction sales in 1749, 1757 and 1765. Troubling as these legal and financial challenges were, however, the resulting inventories of confiscated property and three auction catalogues written by Cressent himself have provided art historians and connoisseurs with invaluable records of his work.
Depicting the theme of Time Triumphant Over Love, the model for the present cartel clock is recorded first as lot 47 in Charles Cressent's sale on 15 January 1749:
47. Une magnifique pendule de bronze dont la composition est du meilleur goût; il y a sur le haut un Amour qui est assis sur des nuages, il appuye son coude sur un sable [sablier]. Au-dessous du cadran est la figure du Temps, tenant sa faulx, et posé sur le chaos du monde, les pieds sont formés par deux grands arbres, le tout parfaitement bien sizelé, doré d'or moulu, de quatre pieds trois pouces de haut
An exceptional example of Cressent's most sculptural work at the peak of the Rococo style, this cartel model clearly enjoyed enduring popularity, as two more examples appear as lots 151 and 152 in his sale on 15 March 1757, catalogued with the 1749 description copied verbatim, except with sides in oak rather than marquetry. The materials were perhaps chosen to skirt guild regulations, as they ensured the cartels were not purely works of bronze, and instead could, however narrowly, be considered works of ébénisterie. One, or possibly more, examples are documented later in the eighteenth century: one, which is recorded as lot 1026 in the 1776 sale of Blondel de Gagny’s collection, is possibly the same as that sold anonymously on 15 December 1784, lot 213 and subsequently from the Boullogne de Préninville collection on 8 May 1787, lot 274, to Legere. This may also the be same that was recorded in the 1771 posthumous inventory of the duc de Bouillon’s collection, as both are described with movements by ‘Guyot’ or ‘Gillot’, presumed to refer to André-Georges Guyot.
In addition to the Aitken example, four others of this model are known today:
- one at Het Loo Palace, Apeldoorn, first recorded there in an inventory of 1835, its dial signed 'J.B. Dutertre' and its movement signed 'Guiot' (as in the eighteenth-century catalogues cited above), as well as with an inscription 'Buzot, janvier 1742' (inv. no. L391)
- one in the collection of the collection the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, its movement signed 'Hervé à Paris' (obj. no. BK-18018)
- one offered Sotheby’s, New York, 1 February 2013, lot 12, its movement also signed 'Hervé à Paris'
- and an example formerly owned by Gustave de Rothschild, Paris, today at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, its dial and movement replaced circa 1790 by Phillipe Willemin of Metz, France (obj. no. 62-1.1,2)
Cressent also produced a complementary model, emblematic of the opposite theme: Love Triumphant Over Time. Although this model is no less ambitious in its treatment of rockwork and natural forms than the Blondel de Gagny/Aitken model, it is overall of a slightly smaller scale, and somewhat more symmetrical in design, with a smaller dial lacking the magnificent relief-cast Apollo mask present on the Aitken clock. Five examples of this complementary are also known today, including one in the Wrightsman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum, New York, its movement signed 'Jean Godde l'aisné A Paris' (acc. no. 1971.206.27); one in the Wallace Collection, London, its movement signed 'Guiot A Paris' (F 92); and one in the musée de Louvre, its movement signed by Gourdain (inv. no. OA 9586). See T. Dell, "The Gilt-bronze Cartel Clocks of Charles Cressent", The Burlington Magazine 107, no. 769, April 1967, pp. 210-217; and A. Pradère, Charles Cressent, Dijon, 2003, pp. 188-198 and 299-300.
THE ELVASTON CASTLE PROVENANCE
Elvaston Castle in Derbyshire served as the seat of the Stanhope family from the late sixteenth century, undergoing numerous phases of rebuilding and refurnishing first initiated by William Stanhope, created 1st Earl of Harrington in 1742. His son, William Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Harrington, continued this program, commissioning significant interior work soon after his 1746 marriage to Lady Caroline Fitzroy, and later, following his succession to the title in 1756. The finest of their eighteenth-century rooms were preserved when the castle was remodeled during the Regency period, to designs by James Wyatt. The Earls of Harrington have earned renown for their collection of French furniture, including a rare pair Boulle console tables which were sold Sotheby's, London, 22 November 1963, lot 69. English furniture from Elvaston Castle includes the famed 'Harrington Commode' by Thomas Chippendale, sold Sotheby's, London, 7 December 2010 (£3,793,250), which established a new auction record for the maker. Despite the family’s successive generations of renovation and decorating, it is not known when the present clock entered the Elvaston collection.
THE CARTEL CLOCKS OF CHARLES CRESSENT
One of Charles Cressent's grandest and most ambitious works, this massive, spectacular cartel clock is nearly unmatched in movement, technical virtuosity and life, eliding the boundaries between functional object and naturalistic sculpture and embodying the Rococo style at its most advanced and inventive. Born in Amiens, Charles Cressent (1685-1768) was exposed to both the art of sculpture and craft of furniture from birth, as the son of the sculpteur du Roi, François Cressent (1663-1745), and grandson of the menuisier, Charles Cressent (1625-1707). Based in the suburbs of Paris in 1711, Cressent worked for the sculptors Girardon and le Lorrain in 1714, was elected maître sculpteur of the Saint Luc Academy on 14 August 1714, and subsequently qualified as an ébéniste after his marriage to the widow of Joseph Poitou (formerly ébéniste du Régent) in 1719. Having enlarged the workshop considerably, Cressent was in turn appointed as ébéniste du Régent to the duc d'Orléans, and soon attracted a roster of elite clientele comprising mainly financiers, as well as Royal and aristocratic patrons including the two successive ducs d'Orléans, King John V of Portugal, Prince Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria, the duc the Richelieu and the marquis de Marigny.
Cressent owed much of his success to the sumptuous and sculptural mounts he created for his furniture, as well as the fantastical bronzes d’ameublement he devised. Guild regulations permitted him to create these designs, but required that they be executed by independent fondeurs and doreurs. He was prosecuted in 1723, 1733 and 1743 for violating these rules, infringing the boundaries between ébénisterie the doreurs-ciseleurs' livelihood. Cressent also further faced sporadic financial difficulties and was compelled to hold auction sales in 1749, 1757 and 1765. Troubling as these legal and financial challenges were, however, the resulting inventories of confiscated property and three auction catalogues written by Cressent himself have provided art historians and connoisseurs with invaluable records of his work.
Depicting the theme of Time Triumphant Over Love, the model for the present cartel clock is recorded first as lot 47 in Charles Cressent's sale on 15 January 1749:
47. Une magnifique pendule de bronze dont la composition est du meilleur goût; il y a sur le haut un Amour qui est assis sur des nuages, il appuye son coude sur un sable [sablier]. Au-dessous du cadran est la figure du Temps, tenant sa faulx, et posé sur le chaos du monde, les pieds sont formés par deux grands arbres, le tout parfaitement bien sizelé, doré d'or moulu, de quatre pieds trois pouces de haut
An exceptional example of Cressent's most sculptural work at the peak of the Rococo style, this cartel model clearly enjoyed enduring popularity, as two more examples appear as lots 151 and 152 in his sale on 15 March 1757, catalogued with the 1749 description copied verbatim, except with sides in oak rather than marquetry. The materials were perhaps chosen to skirt guild regulations, as they ensured the cartels were not purely works of bronze, and instead could, however narrowly, be considered works of ébénisterie. One, or possibly more, examples are documented later in the eighteenth century: one, which is recorded as lot 1026 in the 1776 sale of Blondel de Gagny’s collection, is possibly the same as that sold anonymously on 15 December 1784, lot 213 and subsequently from the Boullogne de Préninville collection on 8 May 1787, lot 274, to Legere. This may also the be same that was recorded in the 1771 posthumous inventory of the duc de Bouillon’s collection, as both are described with movements by ‘Guyot’ or ‘Gillot’, presumed to refer to André-Georges Guyot.
In addition to the Aitken example, four others of this model are known today:
- one at Het Loo Palace, Apeldoorn, first recorded there in an inventory of 1835, its dial signed 'J.B. Dutertre' and its movement signed 'Guiot' (as in the eighteenth-century catalogues cited above), as well as with an inscription 'Buzot, janvier 1742' (inv. no. L391)
- one in the collection of the collection the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, its movement signed 'Hervé à Paris' (obj. no. BK-18018)
- one offered Sotheby’s, New York, 1 February 2013, lot 12, its movement also signed 'Hervé à Paris'
- and an example formerly owned by Gustave de Rothschild, Paris, today at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, its dial and movement replaced circa 1790 by Phillipe Willemin of Metz, France (obj. no. 62-1.1,2)
Cressent also produced a complementary model, emblematic of the opposite theme: Love Triumphant Over Time. Although this model is no less ambitious in its treatment of rockwork and natural forms than the Blondel de Gagny/Aitken model, it is overall of a slightly smaller scale, and somewhat more symmetrical in design, with a smaller dial lacking the magnificent relief-cast Apollo mask present on the Aitken clock. Five examples of this complementary are also known today, including one in the Wrightsman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum, New York, its movement signed 'Jean Godde l'aisné A Paris' (acc. no. 1971.206.27); one in the Wallace Collection, London, its movement signed 'Guiot A Paris' (F 92); and one in the musée de Louvre, its movement signed by Gourdain (inv. no. OA 9586). See T. Dell, "The Gilt-bronze Cartel Clocks of Charles Cressent", The Burlington Magazine 107, no. 769, April 1967, pp. 210-217; and A. Pradère, Charles Cressent, Dijon, 2003, pp. 188-198 and 299-300.
THE ELVASTON CASTLE PROVENANCE
Elvaston Castle in Derbyshire served as the seat of the Stanhope family from the late sixteenth century, undergoing numerous phases of rebuilding and refurnishing first initiated by William Stanhope, created 1st Earl of Harrington in 1742. His son, William Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Harrington, continued this program, commissioning significant interior work soon after his 1746 marriage to Lady Caroline Fitzroy, and later, following his succession to the title in 1756. The finest of their eighteenth-century rooms were preserved when the castle was remodeled during the Regency period, to designs by James Wyatt. The Earls of Harrington have earned renown for their collection of French furniture, including a rare pair Boulle console tables which were sold Sotheby's, London, 22 November 1963, lot 69. English furniture from Elvaston Castle includes the famed 'Harrington Commode' by Thomas Chippendale, sold Sotheby's, London, 7 December 2010 (£3,793,250), which established a new auction record for the maker. Despite the family’s successive generations of renovation and decorating, it is not known when the present clock entered the Elvaston collection.