Lot Essay
Isaac II Thuret (c. 1630-1706), matre horloger before 1662
Thuret, who was made Horloger Ordinaire du Roi et de L'Acadmie des Sciences before 1672, was the most celebrated French clock-maker of his time, and one of the first to utilize Huygen's ground-breaking invention of the pendulum clock. He is recorded for the first time in the accounts of the Btiments du Roi in 1669, and in 1679 supplied 'une horloge a pendule spiralle' to Louis XIV. His extensive range of clients were drawn from the Royal circle and the highest nobility, and he often commissioned Louis XIV's cabinet-maker Andr-Charles Boulle to create his cases. Small scale mantel clocks with finely chased mounts and Boulle marquetry such as on the example offered here were a speciality of Thuret's workshop. Related clocks by Thuret are illustrated in Tardy, La Pendule Franaise, Paris, n.d., pp. 84-5, and P. Kjellberg, Encyclopdie de la Pendule Franaise, Paris, 1997, p. 38, fig. A. Winthrop Edey, in his catalogue for the Frick exhibition, attributes the case to the Gobelins workshop, a natural assumption in view of Thuret's frequent collaboration with Boulle and other notable cabinet-makers.
His son Jacques III Thuret continued his father's tradition, being made horloger du roi following his father's death and continuing to collaborate with Boulle and also Charles Cressent.
Thuret, who was made Horloger Ordinaire du Roi et de L'Acadmie des Sciences before 1672, was the most celebrated French clock-maker of his time, and one of the first to utilize Huygen's ground-breaking invention of the pendulum clock. He is recorded for the first time in the accounts of the Btiments du Roi in 1669, and in 1679 supplied 'une horloge a pendule spiralle' to Louis XIV. His extensive range of clients were drawn from the Royal circle and the highest nobility, and he often commissioned Louis XIV's cabinet-maker Andr-Charles Boulle to create his cases. Small scale mantel clocks with finely chased mounts and Boulle marquetry such as on the example offered here were a speciality of Thuret's workshop. Related clocks by Thuret are illustrated in Tardy, La Pendule Franaise, Paris, n.d., pp. 84-5, and P. Kjellberg, Encyclopdie de la Pendule Franaise, Paris, 1997, p. 38, fig. A. Winthrop Edey, in his catalogue for the Frick exhibition, attributes the case to the Gobelins workshop, a natural assumption in view of Thuret's frequent collaboration with Boulle and other notable cabinet-makers.
His son Jacques III Thuret continued his father's tradition, being made horloger du roi following his father's death and continuing to collaborate with Boulle and also Charles Cressent.