A LOUIS XV ORMOLU MANTEL CLOCK

THE CASE STAMPED ST.GERMAIN, THE DIAL SIGNED JEAN-BAPTISTE BAILLON, CIRCA 1745

Details

A LOUIS XV ORMOLU MANTEL CLOCK
The case stamped ST.GERMAIN, the dial signed Jean-Baptiste Baillon, Circa 1745
The white enamelled dial with Arabic and Roman chapter rings and elaborate pierced hands signed JN.BAPTISTE/BAILLON, behind a glazed door, within a molded and scrolled swept asymmetrical case set at the sides with flowering acanthus, the canted pedestal top surmounted by a draped seated putto holding a peacock atop clouds, a shepherd's trophy beneath the dial, on scrolled feet, atop a rocky scrolled bracket, the movement signed J.B. Baillon AParis/no 4252,lacking two trumpets from the trophy
21in. (53.5cm.) high, 12½in. (31.5cm.) wide, 9in. (23cm.) deep

Lot Essay

Jean-Baptsite III Albert Baillon became a maître in 1727 and succeeded as Valet de Chambre-Horloger Ordinaire and Premier Valet de Chambre to both Queen Marie Leczinska and the dauphine Marie-Antoinette. With a large workshop in Saint-German-en-Laye he was one of the most important and wealthy clockmakers of the 18th century.
A virtually-identical clock, the case stamped by Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain (1719-91), but surmounted by love birds, is illustrated in P. Kjellberg, Encyclopédie de la Pendule française du Moyen Age au XXe Siècle, Paris, 1997, p. 112, fig. A.

More from Important French and Continental Furniture, Porcelain

View All