A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU MANTEL CLOCK
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A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU MANTEL CLOCK

THE MOVEMENT BY HENRY VOISIN, THE CASE PROBABLY BY ETIENNE MAURICE FALCONET

Details
A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU MANTEL CLOCK
The movement by Henry Voisin, the case probably by Etienne Maurice Falconet
With two tones of gilding, the circular white-enamelled Roman dial signed 'Henry VOISIN', framed by a ribbon-tied floral garland, the drum case flanked on one side by Chloe, the shepherdess, and to the other side by a lamb, on a rounded rectangluar plinth, the central panel mounted with a meandering laurel garland, the sides with berried laurel, on gadrooned toupie feet, the movement signed 'Henri Voisin A Paris'
14¾ in. (37 cm.) high; 5¼ in. (13 cm.) deep; 11¾ in. (30 cm.) wide
Provenance
Pascal Izarn, Paris, from whom purchased by the present owner.
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

This golden allegorical mantel clock is conceived in the Louis XVI gout grec fashion of the 1770s. Celebrating sacrifices at love's altar in antiquity, it recalls the pastoral romance of Daphnis and Chloe, attributed to the Greek 4th century sophist Longus. Daphnis, the shepherd son of Mercury, is credited with the invention of bucolic poetry in Arcadia. Here his faithful love, the shepherdess Chloe, whose name signifies 'the verdant or blooming one', makes a libation at Cupid's flower-wreathed altar composed of a truncated column. Its plinth, festooned with the poet's triumphal laurels, stands on reed-gadrooned feet evoking the Arcadian deity Pan.

The model of the nymph is attributed to the sculptor Etienne Maurice Falconet (1716-1791). The movement may have been executed by the Rue Dauphine clock-maker Antoine Henry Voisin, who was a member of the Paris jure from 1773 to 1807, and whose name has been recorded on other fine mantel clocks.

A similar model is illustrated in E. Niehüser, French Bronze Clocks, Atglen, 1999, p. 106, fig. 171. A related clock was sold at Ader, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 24 March 1955, lot 67. Another clock with a figure of Cupid in place of the sheep is illustrated in H. Ottomeyer P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, vol. I, p. 243, ill. 4.6.4.

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