A LATE LOUIS XVI PORCELAIN-MOUNTED ORMOLU MANTEL CLOCK

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HENRI DE BEAUMONT (1923-2005) THE COLLECTION OF THE LATE COMTE HENRI DE BEAUMONT IS A SPENDID EXAMPLE OF TRUE CONNOISSEURSHIP. THIS EXTRAORDINARY GROUP COMES FROM BEAUMONT'S LAST RESIDENCE IN ROME. IT INCLUDES FRENCH FURNITURE AND OBJETS D'ART SUCH AS A MAGNIFICENT SUITE OF LOUIS XVI LACQUER MEUBLES D'APPUI ATTRIBUTED TO ETIENNE LEVASSEUR, A LOUIS XVI SUITE OF GILTWOOD SEAT-FURNITURE AND VARIOUS ORMOLU-MOUNTED OBJECTS AND FINE CLOCKS. A TRICULTURAL MAN OF THE WORLD, BEAUMONT WAS BORN AND RAISED IN FRANCE, SPENT YEARS IN THE UNITED STATES AS A DIPLOMAT, AND THEN LIVED BETWEEN FRANCE AND ITALY WITH HIS ITALIAN WIFE GRAZIELLA PECCI BLUNT AND THEIR DAUGHTER GAIA. FROM HIS FAMILY, IN PARTICULAR HIS UNCLE ETIENNE DE BEAUMONT, WITH WHOM HE LIVED DURING HIS FORMATIVE YEARS, HE INHERITED AN EXCEPTIONAL COLLECTION OF PAINTINGS, MAGNIFICENT FRENCH FURNITURE AND OBJECTS. THESE WERE NOT MERE ACQUISITIONS; THEY CAME WITH A DEEPLY ROOTED WAY OF LIFE THAT BURGEONED BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS INTO THE MOST ADVANCED MODERNISM. PERIOD SETTINGS RECALLING ANCIENT LINEAGE BECAME A BACKDROP FOR THE VANGUARD IN THE ARTS AND LETTERS. THE YOUNG BEAUMONT WAS AT HOME WITH HIS UNCLE'S GUESTS, WHO INCLUDED PICASSO, BRAQUE, COCTEAU AND BUñUEL, BESIDES THE FAMILY AND FRIENDS BELONGING TO THE FRENCH HAUTE SOCIéTé. IN HIS INTERNATIONAL LIFE HE HAD A STARRING ROLE AS A GENIAL HOST AT HIS CHâTEAU OF FONTAINE L'ABBé AND PALACE IN ROME, PLUS HIS SARDINIAN BEACH HOUSE AND ALSO AT THE VILLA REALE AT MARLIA. HE WAS KNOWN FOR HIS AMIABLE CHARM AND FAMILIARITY WITH CONTEMPORARY NOTABLES, WRITERS AND ARTISTS AROUND EUROPE AND THE AMERICAS. TO HIS INHERITED COLLECTIONS HE KNOWLEDGEABLY ADDED WORKS BY HIS OWN CONTEMPORARIES, INCLUDING PHOTOGRAPHS AS WELL AS PAINTINGS AND SCULPTURES. MILTON GENDEL ROME, SEPTEMBER 2005. THE PROPERTY OF THE LATE COMTE HENRI DE BEAUMONT (LOTS 133-147)

A LATE LOUIS XVI PORCELAIN-MOUNTED ORMOLU MANTEL CLOCK

THE MOVEMENT BY JEAN-LOUIS ROUVIERE, CIRCA 1785-1790

Details

A LATE LOUIS XVI PORCELAIN-MOUNTED ORMOLU MANTEL CLOCK
THE MOVEMENT BY JEAN-LOUIS ROUVIERE, CIRCA 1785-1790
THE GLAZED WHITE ENAMELLED ARABIC DIAL SIGNED BY 'ROUVIERE A PARIS' with pierced handles, within a bow-toped case headed by a pediment with beaded and leaves friezes and decorated with a cassolette with hung fruit garlands and by pine cone finials, flanked by fluted pilasters, above a porcelain plaque centred by a Medusa mask flanked by scrolling acanthus and vine, the sides with plaques depicting ribbon-suspended vine basket and musical trophy and flanked by similar pilasters, on a leaf-tip edged base and toupee feet, the movement engraved 'ROUVIERE A PARIS', with a red-bordered label inscribed 'Proprieta personale Anna L. Pecci Blunt, Caminetto camera da letto 32 rue de Babylone, Paris'
15¾ (40 cm.) high; 8½ in. (22 cm.) wide; 5 in. (13 cm.) deep

Provenance

Anna Pecci Blunt.
Thence by descent.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Jean-Louis Rouvière, maître horloger in 1781.

With its delicate porcelain plaques decorated in the fashionable Etruscan manner, this clock demonstrates the fashion for bejewelled furniture and objets d'art of the late 1780s and 1790s. One of the most important émailleur of this period was Joseph Coteau (1740-1801), who executed precious enamelled dials and plaques for clocks similar to the present example.
A nearly identical clock, signed by Robert Robin, was sold, Sotheby's, New York, 10 December 1994, lot 260 while a related one, signed by Jean Antoine Lépine, was sold from the collection of the Baron Eugène de Rothschild, Christie's, London, 27 June 1974, lot 21.

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