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Lot Essay
Joachim Bailly, maître in 1749.
Until Christian Baulez's fascinating article revealing the exact origins of this enduringly popular model, the two clocks supplied by the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux for the use of the duc de Bourgogne on 14 October 1758 - une pendule à sonnerie de J. Le Roy, composée d'une couchée représentant l'Etude en bronze doré d'or moulu - and to the comte du Luc on 9 November had always been considered to be the earliest examples recorded (C. Baulez, 'La Pendule à la Geoffrin Un Modèle a Succès', L'Objet d'Art L'Estampille, April 1989, pp. 34-41). However, in 1757 the marquis de Marigny had already acquired a clock of this model, with a movement by Musson, through Madame Geoffrin. Her reference in her notebooks to the model is very specific:-
'...Ma pendule de Guyard: elle m'est revenue à 3000 livres par ce que j'en ai fait faire le modèle; elle est l'original'.
Baulez suggests that Guyard was probably Laurent Guiard, the audacious pupil of Edmé Bouchardon, whom she may have commissioned between January and September 1754, when he left for Rome. In 1768 Madame Geoffrin gave 'une pendule pareille à la mienne' to Denis Diderot, which survives in the Musée Du Breuil de Saint-Germain at
Langres. Other members of Madame Geoffrin's circle who owned 'une pendule à L'Emploi du Temps' included the banker Jean-Joseph de Laborde, the duc de la Vrillière and Horace Walpole at Strawberry Hill. Walpole's clock, which he bought for £50 before 1774, was sold anonymously at Chritie's London, 23 June 1999, lot 120 (£106,000; $168,000). Walpole's clock had previously been thought to be possibly that at Waddesdon (G. de Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor: Furniture, Clocks and Gilt Bronzes, London, 1974, 1, no. 17, pp. 104-7)
The duc de Choiseul owned an example which can be seen placed on a cartonnier, probably by Simon Oeben, in a miniature by van Blarenberghe from the Choiseul Box, circa 1770-1 showing the cabinet octagone in the hôtel de Choiseul in Paris. Another was sold in the Blondel de Gagny sale (P. Rémy, Paris, 10-24 December 1776 and 8-22 January 1777).
The plinths of a number of examples bear the stamps of either Balthazar Lieutaud or Joseph Baumhauer, including that owned by Walpole (stamped by Joseph) and the clock in the Wallace Collection (F.J.B. Watson, Wallace Collection Catalogues: Furniture, London, 1956, F267, plate 55), which has a frieze mount of the Lalive de Jully model. Amongst the many horlogers associated with this model, Julien Le Roy features most prominently, followed by Ferdinand Berthoud.
The pendule à la Geoffrin enjoyed great popularity for over thirty years, with the fondeur-doreur François Remond recorded as selling an example in 1782. After Lazare Duvaux's death, Simon-Philippe Poirier probably became the main marchand-mercier for these clocks.
A further clock of this model with a Louis XVI plinth was sold by the Marquess of Cholmondely, Works of Art from Houghton, Christie's London, 8 December 1994, lot 73 (£43,300). Although the Houghton clock was surmounted by a globe above the dial, this model certainly existed without this further embellishment, as the Walpole clock had a plain hood to the dial- and is clearly illustrated in that exact form in John Carter's watercolour of the Refectory at Strawberry Hill dating from the late 1780's - whilst another clock, also without the globe, is recorded in the collection of the eminent 18th Century financier Nicolas Beaujon. The Beaujon clock, now in the musée de l'Histoire de France, Paris, is illustrated in J.-D. Augarde, Les Ouvriers du Temps, Paris, 1996, pp.90-91.
Until Christian Baulez's fascinating article revealing the exact origins of this enduringly popular model, the two clocks supplied by the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux for the use of the duc de Bourgogne on 14 October 1758 - une pendule à sonnerie de J. Le Roy, composée d'une couchée représentant l'Etude en bronze doré d'or moulu - and to the comte du Luc on 9 November had always been considered to be the earliest examples recorded (C. Baulez, 'La Pendule à la Geoffrin Un Modèle a Succès', L'Objet d'Art L'Estampille, April 1989, pp. 34-41). However, in 1757 the marquis de Marigny had already acquired a clock of this model, with a movement by Musson, through Madame Geoffrin. Her reference in her notebooks to the model is very specific:-
'...Ma pendule de Guyard: elle m'est revenue à 3000 livres par ce que j'en ai fait faire le modèle; elle est l'original'.
Baulez suggests that Guyard was probably Laurent Guiard, the audacious pupil of Edmé Bouchardon, whom she may have commissioned between January and September 1754, when he left for Rome. In 1768 Madame Geoffrin gave 'une pendule pareille à la mienne' to Denis Diderot, which survives in the Musée Du Breuil de Saint-Germain at
Langres. Other members of Madame Geoffrin's circle who owned 'une pendule à L'Emploi du Temps' included the banker Jean-Joseph de Laborde, the duc de la Vrillière and Horace Walpole at Strawberry Hill. Walpole's clock, which he bought for £50 before 1774, was sold anonymously at Chritie's London, 23 June 1999, lot 120 (£106,000; $168,000). Walpole's clock had previously been thought to be possibly that at Waddesdon (G. de Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor: Furniture, Clocks and Gilt Bronzes, London, 1974, 1, no. 17, pp. 104-7)
The duc de Choiseul owned an example which can be seen placed on a cartonnier, probably by Simon Oeben, in a miniature by van Blarenberghe from the Choiseul Box, circa 1770-1 showing the cabinet octagone in the hôtel de Choiseul in Paris. Another was sold in the Blondel de Gagny sale (P. Rémy, Paris, 10-24 December 1776 and 8-22 January 1777).
The plinths of a number of examples bear the stamps of either Balthazar Lieutaud or Joseph Baumhauer, including that owned by Walpole (stamped by Joseph) and the clock in the Wallace Collection (F.J.B. Watson, Wallace Collection Catalogues: Furniture, London, 1956, F267, plate 55), which has a frieze mount of the Lalive de Jully model. Amongst the many horlogers associated with this model, Julien Le Roy features most prominently, followed by Ferdinand Berthoud.
The pendule à la Geoffrin enjoyed great popularity for over thirty years, with the fondeur-doreur François Remond recorded as selling an example in 1782. After Lazare Duvaux's death, Simon-Philippe Poirier probably became the main marchand-mercier for these clocks.
A further clock of this model with a Louis XVI plinth was sold by the Marquess of Cholmondely, Works of Art from Houghton, Christie's London, 8 December 1994, lot 73 (£43,300). Although the Houghton clock was surmounted by a globe above the dial, this model certainly existed without this further embellishment, as the Walpole clock had a plain hood to the dial- and is clearly illustrated in that exact form in John Carter's watercolour of the Refectory at Strawberry Hill dating from the late 1780's - whilst another clock, also without the globe, is recorded in the collection of the eminent 18th Century financier Nicolas Beaujon. The Beaujon clock, now in the musée de l'Histoire de France, Paris, is illustrated in J.-D. Augarde, Les Ouvriers du Temps, Paris, 1996, pp.90-91.