拍品专文
Nicolas Gribelin, maître in 1676.
Son and grandson of the horlogers du roi Abraham, Nicolas Gribelin was born in Blois in 1637 and established his workshops in the rue de Bucy. Horloger de Monseigneur le Grand Dauphin in 1674 and elected as maître horloger entrant de Faubourg St. Germain on 5 June 1675, he was appointed Juré in 1676 and flourished until 1719. Gribelin was extensively patronised by the Grand Dauphin, and no less than three of his works are recorded in the 1689 inventory of the Dauphin's Cabinet - including 'Une pendule cartouche de marqueterie marquant les heures, les ½, les minutes, les degrées du soleil, de la lune avec une aiguille de jour et de nuit, estimée 80 pistoles'.
This regulateur de parquet, or 'pendule à secondes' belongs to a distinctive group:
-one, similarly inlaid with a fleur-de-lys to the centre of the frieze and with a movement by Antoine Gaudron (maître in 1675) was exhibited in 'French Clocks in North American Collections', Exhibition Catalogue, New York, Frick Collection, 2 November 1982 - 30 January 1983, no. 27.
-another, the movement by Pierre du Chesne (maître in 1675), is in the Time Museum, Rockford, Illinois.
-another, the movement also by Gribelin, was sold at Drouot Chayette, Paris, 5 June 1985.
-another, the movement by Balthazar Martinot, was sold anonymously at Sotheby's Monaco, 4 December 1983, lot 106.
-another, the movement by Mathieu Marguerite (maître in 1675), illustrated in H. Ottomeyer, P. Proschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, Band II, p.494, was sold anonymously at Christie's Amsterdam, 23 March 1983, lot 387.
-another, with movement by Louis Orry (maître in 1693), is in the Bibliothèque Mazarine, Paris.
Three further examples with minor variations, but all displaying a distinctive apron are recorded: -the first is that in the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, which is identifiable with that delivered by Pierre Duchesne in 1685 to Louis XIV. Both the apron and the marquetry suggest a probable attribution to André-Charles Boulle.
-the second, emblazoned with the arms of Ralph, Duke of Montagu but with a later movement, remains at Boughton House, Northamptonshire.
-the third, lacking both its movement and lower case but otherwise identical, was sold at Ader Picard Tajan, Paris, 7 November 1985, lot 148.
Arguably the earliest surviving long-pendulum clocks made outside England, the slightly different form of the first group, without an apron, the quality of the mounts and the design of the marquetry decoration all suggest an ébéniste other than Boulle
Son and grandson of the horlogers du roi Abraham, Nicolas Gribelin was born in Blois in 1637 and established his workshops in the rue de Bucy. Horloger de Monseigneur le Grand Dauphin in 1674 and elected as maître horloger entrant de Faubourg St. Germain on 5 June 1675, he was appointed Juré in 1676 and flourished until 1719. Gribelin was extensively patronised by the Grand Dauphin, and no less than three of his works are recorded in the 1689 inventory of the Dauphin's Cabinet - including 'Une pendule cartouche de marqueterie marquant les heures, les ½, les minutes, les degrées du soleil, de la lune avec une aiguille de jour et de nuit, estimée 80 pistoles'.
This regulateur de parquet, or 'pendule à secondes' belongs to a distinctive group:
-one, similarly inlaid with a fleur-de-lys to the centre of the frieze and with a movement by Antoine Gaudron (maître in 1675) was exhibited in 'French Clocks in North American Collections', Exhibition Catalogue, New York, Frick Collection, 2 November 1982 - 30 January 1983, no. 27.
-another, the movement by Pierre du Chesne (maître in 1675), is in the Time Museum, Rockford, Illinois.
-another, the movement also by Gribelin, was sold at Drouot Chayette, Paris, 5 June 1985.
-another, the movement by Balthazar Martinot, was sold anonymously at Sotheby's Monaco, 4 December 1983, lot 106.
-another, the movement by Mathieu Marguerite (maître in 1675), illustrated in H. Ottomeyer, P. Proschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, Band II, p.494, was sold anonymously at Christie's Amsterdam, 23 March 1983, lot 387.
-another, with movement by Louis Orry (maître in 1693), is in the Bibliothèque Mazarine, Paris.
Three further examples with minor variations, but all displaying a distinctive apron are recorded: -the first is that in the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, which is identifiable with that delivered by Pierre Duchesne in 1685 to Louis XIV. Both the apron and the marquetry suggest a probable attribution to André-Charles Boulle.
-the second, emblazoned with the arms of Ralph, Duke of Montagu but with a later movement, remains at Boughton House, Northamptonshire.
-the third, lacking both its movement and lower case but otherwise identical, was sold at Ader Picard Tajan, Paris, 7 November 1985, lot 148.
Arguably the earliest surviving long-pendulum clocks made outside England, the slightly different form of the first group, without an apron, the quality of the mounts and the design of the marquetry decoration all suggest an ébéniste other than Boulle