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拍品專文
The design for this clock, traditionally attributed to Vion and composed by Duplessis, is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (reproduced above). Interestingly, this ormolu case is attributed to the fondeur Lemoyne by J-D. Augarde in Les Ouvriers du Temps, Geneva, 1996, p. 262. Jean-Jacques Lemoyne was elected maître-fondeur-ciseleur on 28th March 1772. He lived in the rue Princesse and worked most notably for the comte de Montmorency-Laval. Augarde (op. cit, p.262, fig. 205) illustrates an identical clock, but with bleu turquin marble base and movement by Robin which was confiscated from the Marquis de Sérent, governor to the Comte d'Artois' children and states that Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and Mesdames Victoire and Adélaîde owned similar clocks.
Another clock of this model, thought to have come from the French Royal Collections in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, with movement by Robin, is illustrated H. Ottomeyer/P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich 1986, Vol I., p. 226, fig 4.1.2. A clock of this model but with white marble base, as on this lot, and movement by Montjoye, is in the Swedish Royal Collection at Drottningholm (B. von Malmborg, Slott Voch Herresäten i Sverige, De Kungliga Slotten, Malmö, 1971, pp. 160, 213).
It is interesting to note that all of the above clocks have a Royal or semi-Royal provenance. Indeed, a very similar clock, surrounded by cooing doves and therefore lacking the flaming urn, delivered by Robin for the Comte de Provence, Louis XVI's brother, at the Palais de Luxembourg, circa 1782-83, was sold at Christie's New York, 24 November 1998, lot 14.
Renacle-Nicolas Sotiau (b. Liège 1749, d. Paris 1791), received his maîtrise in 1782. He was established on the rue Saint-Honoré, and held the title of Horloger de Mgr le Dauphin to the first Dauphin, the son of Louis XVI, who died in 1789. During the 1780s, Sotiau was one of the more prolific clockmakers in Paris, working for the marchand-merciers Darnault and Daguerre who supplied his clocks to such illustrious clients as Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, Mesdames Victoire and Adeläide, the daughters of Louis XV, the duc de Polignac and the Prince Regent, later George IV, King of England. Cases by François Rémond and P.P. Thomire were often employed by Sotiau, who also used springs by Monginot.
G. Merlet is recorded as an enameller in the rue des Lavandières Sainte-Opportune in 1812. His signature is found to the counter-enamel of a mantel clock in the Wallace Collection by Jean-Baptiste Lepaute (P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Furniture, London, 1996, vol. 1, pp. 503-508, cat. no. 112 (F269)).
Another clock of this model, thought to have come from the French Royal Collections in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, with movement by Robin, is illustrated H. Ottomeyer/P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich 1986, Vol I., p. 226, fig 4.1.2. A clock of this model but with white marble base, as on this lot, and movement by Montjoye, is in the Swedish Royal Collection at Drottningholm (B. von Malmborg, Slott Voch Herresäten i Sverige, De Kungliga Slotten, Malmö, 1971, pp. 160, 213).
It is interesting to note that all of the above clocks have a Royal or semi-Royal provenance. Indeed, a very similar clock, surrounded by cooing doves and therefore lacking the flaming urn, delivered by Robin for the Comte de Provence, Louis XVI's brother, at the Palais de Luxembourg, circa 1782-83, was sold at Christie's New York, 24 November 1998, lot 14.
Renacle-Nicolas Sotiau (b. Liège 1749, d. Paris 1791), received his maîtrise in 1782. He was established on the rue Saint-Honoré, and held the title of Horloger de Mgr le Dauphin to the first Dauphin, the son of Louis XVI, who died in 1789. During the 1780s, Sotiau was one of the more prolific clockmakers in Paris, working for the marchand-merciers Darnault and Daguerre who supplied his clocks to such illustrious clients as Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, Mesdames Victoire and Adeläide, the daughters of Louis XV, the duc de Polignac and the Prince Regent, later George IV, King of England. Cases by François Rémond and P.P. Thomire were often employed by Sotiau, who also used springs by Monginot.
G. Merlet is recorded as an enameller in the rue des Lavandières Sainte-Opportune in 1812. His signature is found to the counter-enamel of a mantel clock in the Wallace Collection by Jean-Baptiste Lepaute (P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Furniture, London, 1996, vol. 1, pp. 503-508, cat. no. 112 (F269)).