Lot Essay
This clock exemplifies the fashion for French interiors promoted by George, Prince of Wales, later George IV and popular among his francophile circle of friends.
Charles Whitworth (d.1825) served as George III's Ambassador to the French Court in 1801-1802 and almost certainly acquired this clock while residing in Paris. Whitworth began his diplomatic career on the staff of John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset, who had himself been Ambassador to the Court of Louis XVI during the mid-1780's. Whitworth married the Duchess of Dorset following the Duke's death in 1799. He returned to England in 1802 and the clock appears in an 1807 inventory for the 'Anti Drawing Room' of his London home at 45 Grosvenor Place. In 1811, he employed Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy (d.1854) to replace the clock movement with one of his own according to the Vulliamy records for clock no.492. As clockmaker to the Royal family, Vulliamy supplied replacement movements for a number of French clocks belonging to the Prince of Wales for Carlton House (see exhibition catalogue for Carlton House: The Past Glories of George IV's Palace, 1991, pp.82-83, no.34). The clock subsequently appears in the inventory of items sent from 45 Grosvenor Place to his wife's family home, Knole, in March 1817 (Kent Record Office).
This French ormolu-enriched bronze clock, designed in the 'antique' Empire manner, is embellished with a figure and bas-relief tablet emblematic of the Sciences. The scroll-bearing Muse Urania, emblematic of Astronomy, attends with books at an unveiled altar revealing the clock-face. The plinth tablet displays youths in antiquity studying astronomy with the aid of an orrery and scientific instruments. A closely related clock, attributed to the bronze and clock-manufacturer Pierre-Victor Ledure (see H. Ottomeyer, Vergoldete Bronzen, 1986, p.349, fig.5.6.8). Others of this basic model are in other public collections, including one in the Royal Pavilion at Brighton.A clock of this model with dial signed by French clockmaker Cachard (fl. from 1780) was sold in these Rooms, 3 February 1979, lot 6.
Charles Whitworth (d.1825) served as George III's Ambassador to the French Court in 1801-1802 and almost certainly acquired this clock while residing in Paris. Whitworth began his diplomatic career on the staff of John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset, who had himself been Ambassador to the Court of Louis XVI during the mid-1780's. Whitworth married the Duchess of Dorset following the Duke's death in 1799. He returned to England in 1802 and the clock appears in an 1807 inventory for the 'Anti Drawing Room' of his London home at 45 Grosvenor Place. In 1811, he employed Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy (d.1854) to replace the clock movement with one of his own according to the Vulliamy records for clock no.492. As clockmaker to the Royal family, Vulliamy supplied replacement movements for a number of French clocks belonging to the Prince of Wales for Carlton House (see exhibition catalogue for Carlton House: The Past Glories of George IV's Palace, 1991, pp.82-83, no.34). The clock subsequently appears in the inventory of items sent from 45 Grosvenor Place to his wife's family home, Knole, in March 1817 (Kent Record Office).
This French ormolu-enriched bronze clock, designed in the 'antique' Empire manner, is embellished with a figure and bas-relief tablet emblematic of the Sciences. The scroll-bearing Muse Urania, emblematic of Astronomy, attends with books at an unveiled altar revealing the clock-face. The plinth tablet displays youths in antiquity studying astronomy with the aid of an orrery and scientific instruments. A closely related clock, attributed to the bronze and clock-manufacturer Pierre-Victor Ledure (see H. Ottomeyer, Vergoldete Bronzen, 1986, p.349, fig.5.6.8). Others of this basic model are in other public collections, including one in the Royal Pavilion at Brighton.A clock of this model with dial signed by French clockmaker Cachard (fl. from 1780) was sold in these Rooms, 3 February 1979, lot 6.