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Lot Essay
This clock is inspired by a Sèvres porcelain model known as a vase bouc du Barry B. First introduced at Sèvres in 1771 and named in honor of the King's mistress, this model was produced in three sizes and the plaster model still survives at Sèvres. In 1777, Louis XVI purchased a hard-paste example for 360 livres, which he presented to his brother-in-law, the Emperor of Austria, and the model clearly found favour at Court, as both Louis XVI and Louis XV's daughter Madame Victoire acquired this model in 1779 (A. Sassoon, op. cit., p.116). What is probably one of these latter pairs is now in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (70.DE.99.1-2).
Three pairs of agate vases of this design, which may originally have been conceived as the flanking vases of a clock-garniture, are recorded. The first was sold from the collection of the Countess of Craven, Sotheby's London, 20 November 1961, lot 144 (and again from the Bensimon Collection, Couturier-Nicolay, Paris, November 1981, lot 56); the second was sold at Leo Spik, Berlin, 19-21 March 1987, lot 1945; and the third was sold anonymously at Cornette de Saint Cyr, hôtel Drouot, Paris, 19 May 1999, lot 101.
Three pairs of agate vases of this design, which may originally have been conceived as the flanking vases of a clock-garniture, are recorded. The first was sold from the collection of the Countess of Craven, Sotheby's London, 20 November 1961, lot 144 (and again from the Bensimon Collection, Couturier-Nicolay, Paris, November 1981, lot 56); the second was sold at Leo Spik, Berlin, 19-21 March 1987, lot 1945; and the third was sold anonymously at Cornette de Saint Cyr, hôtel Drouot, Paris, 19 May 1999, lot 101.