Lot Essay
This model, known as colonne Pendule, is related to designs by Jean-Charles Delafosse in the Muse des Arts Decoratifs, Paris (inv. no. 21556 E). The columnar body, identified as in production in 1771, and the surmounting urn, similarly recorded in August 1778 (R. Savill, The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Svres Porcelain, vol. II, pp. 795-6), were made in a number of media under the guidance of such marchand-merciers as Poirier, who sold one to Madame du Barry on 27 December 1771 (C. Davillier, Les porcelaines de Svres de Mme du Barry, 1870, p. 3).
Examples of such clocks include: one in porcelain sold anonymously at Christie's London, 9 December 1993, lot 42; another also in porcelain in the Wallace Collection (P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Furniture, vol. I, no. 116 (F262)); and a related model in marble (H. Ottomeyer/P. Prschel et. al, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. II, p. 566, fig. 5). A number of bronze models designed by Robert and Jean-Baptiste Osmond circa 1770 are illustrated in Ottomeyer and Prschel, op. cit., vol. I, p. 194-95.
Examples of such clocks include: one in porcelain sold anonymously at Christie's London, 9 December 1993, lot 42; another also in porcelain in the Wallace Collection (P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Furniture, vol. I, no. 116 (F262)); and a related model in marble (H. Ottomeyer/P. Prschel et. al, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. II, p. 566, fig. 5). A number of bronze models designed by Robert and Jean-Baptiste Osmond circa 1770 are illustrated in Ottomeyer and Prschel, op. cit., vol. I, p. 194-95.