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Lot Essay
This clock is first recorded in the Inventory drawn up following the death of A.A. Levesque in 1767, when it was described as:
'Une pendule faite à Paris par Lenoir montée sur un cheval de porcelaine. Le tout monté en bronze doré d'or moulu, 240 livres'.
Antoine Levesque, the brother-in-law of Caron de Beaumarchais, was married to Geneviève Madeleine Wattebled. Appointed as Garde Général du magasin des Menus Plaisirs et Affaires de la Chambre du Roi, his influential post was equivalent to that enjoyed by de Fontenieu or Thierry de Ville d'Avray at the Garde Meuble de la Couronne. At his death in 1767, his will mentions the horlogers Perrache and Leloutre, the bronzier Lesage and the marchand-mercier Darnault.
The movement bears the trace of another horloger who perhaps participated in the creation of this clock - Masson 9 octobre 1764. This must refer to Denis Masson, who is known to have worked for the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux following his maîtrise in 1746.
THE PORCELAIN GROUP
The porcelain model for this equestrian group has been studied by K. Albiker in Die Meissner Porzellantiere, Berlin, 1959, pl.245 and 248. This group was rapidly taken up by the marchands-merciers, revealed most tellingly in the drawing for a clock which displays this same group elaborately mounted in rocaille ormolu and with a movement by Gudin, reproduced in P. Heuer and K. Maurice, European Pendulum Clocks, Westchester, 1988, p.11, fig.6.
Although earlier dated by Albiker in Die Meissner Porzellantiere, Berlin, 1935, nos. 228-231, tafel LIV to 1765, this date is clearly erroneous as both English copies of the Meissen model were made at Longton Hall circa 1753 and a note of the same year by Lazare Duvaux describes un cheval de porcelaine Saxe avec un figure a coste. In composition, this group was almost certainly inspired by the pair of monumental marble groups, Chevaux Retenus par des Palefreniers, modelled by Guillaume Coustou 1739-1745 for the palace at Marly and moved in 1794 to their present location in Paris at the intersection of the Champs Elysées with the Place de la Concorde.
'Une pendule faite à Paris par Lenoir montée sur un cheval de porcelaine. Le tout monté en bronze doré d'or moulu, 240 livres'.
Antoine Levesque, the brother-in-law of Caron de Beaumarchais, was married to Geneviève Madeleine Wattebled. Appointed as Garde Général du magasin des Menus Plaisirs et Affaires de la Chambre du Roi, his influential post was equivalent to that enjoyed by de Fontenieu or Thierry de Ville d'Avray at the Garde Meuble de la Couronne. At his death in 1767, his will mentions the horlogers Perrache and Leloutre, the bronzier Lesage and the marchand-mercier Darnault.
The movement bears the trace of another horloger who perhaps participated in the creation of this clock - Masson 9 octobre 1764. This must refer to Denis Masson, who is known to have worked for the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux following his maîtrise in 1746.
THE PORCELAIN GROUP
The porcelain model for this equestrian group has been studied by K. Albiker in Die Meissner Porzellantiere, Berlin, 1959, pl.245 and 248. This group was rapidly taken up by the marchands-merciers, revealed most tellingly in the drawing for a clock which displays this same group elaborately mounted in rocaille ormolu and with a movement by Gudin, reproduced in P. Heuer and K. Maurice, European Pendulum Clocks, Westchester, 1988, p.11, fig.6.
Although earlier dated by Albiker in Die Meissner Porzellantiere, Berlin, 1935, nos. 228-231, tafel LIV to 1765, this date is clearly erroneous as both English copies of the Meissen model were made at Longton Hall circa 1753 and a note of the same year by Lazare Duvaux describes un cheval de porcelaine Saxe avec un figure a coste. In composition, this group was almost certainly inspired by the pair of monumental marble groups, Chevaux Retenus par des Palefreniers, modelled by Guillaume Coustou 1739-1745 for the palace at Marly and moved in 1794 to their present location in Paris at the intersection of the Champs Elysées with the Place de la Concorde.