Lot Essay
The drawing for this clock signed by Deverberie and dated trois pluviose an sept (late January 1799) is in the Cabinet des Estampes, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. As Deverberie's name also appears on the dials of a number of clocks it is possible that he was both a bronze founder and clockmaker.
The design of this pendule à l'Amerique with its two figures of Incas reflects the interest of the late 18th Century in 'le bon sauvage' encouraged by the idyllic representations of Bernadin de Saint-Pierre and de Chateaubriand and the abolition of slavery by the Convention in 1793. The first of the French clocks of this style appears to have been la Negresse delivered by Furet and Gaudon to Marie-Antoinette in 1784, a version of which, possibly purchased by the Prince of Wales in 1790, is included in the current exhibition at the Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, Exhibition Catalogue, Carlton House, The Past Glories of George IV's Palace, 1991-1992, (no. 29). Interest in le bon sauvage was maintained throughout the Empire period despite Napoleon's reintroduction of slavery in 1802. A series of wallpaper panels known as Les Incas, inspired by Jean-François Marmontel's Les Incas ou la Destruction de l'Empire du Pérou, and manufactured by Dufour, Paris was first exhibited in the 1819 Paris Exposition des produits de l'industrie française (see: Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, Exhibition Catalogue, Papiers peints panoramiques, 18 September 1990-20 January 1991, pp.264-265).
Other clocks of this model are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York The Frick Collection, Exhibition Catalogue, French Clocks in North American Collections, 2 November 1982-30 January 1983, p.94, fig. 89) and in the Spanish Royal Collection (J. Ramon Colon de Carvagal, Catalogue de Relojes del Patrimonio Naçional, Madrid, 1989, no. 100, p.120)
Another example of this model was exhibited at the Musée de l'Hôtel Sandelin at Saint Omer (Exhibition Catalogue, La Pendule au Negre, 29 April - 12 June 1978, no. 15).
The design of this pendule à l'Amerique with its two figures of Incas reflects the interest of the late 18th Century in 'le bon sauvage' encouraged by the idyllic representations of Bernadin de Saint-Pierre and de Chateaubriand and the abolition of slavery by the Convention in 1793. The first of the French clocks of this style appears to have been la Negresse delivered by Furet and Gaudon to Marie-Antoinette in 1784, a version of which, possibly purchased by the Prince of Wales in 1790, is included in the current exhibition at the Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, Exhibition Catalogue, Carlton House, The Past Glories of George IV's Palace, 1991-1992, (no. 29). Interest in le bon sauvage was maintained throughout the Empire period despite Napoleon's reintroduction of slavery in 1802. A series of wallpaper panels known as Les Incas, inspired by Jean-François Marmontel's Les Incas ou la Destruction de l'Empire du Pérou, and manufactured by Dufour, Paris was first exhibited in the 1819 Paris Exposition des produits de l'industrie française (see: Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, Exhibition Catalogue, Papiers peints panoramiques, 18 September 1990-20 January 1991, pp.264-265).
Other clocks of this model are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York The Frick Collection, Exhibition Catalogue, French Clocks in North American Collections, 2 November 1982-30 January 1983, p.94, fig. 89) and in the Spanish Royal Collection (J. Ramon Colon de Carvagal, Catalogue de Relojes del Patrimonio Naçional, Madrid, 1989, no. 100, p.120)
Another example of this model was exhibited at the Musée de l'Hôtel Sandelin at Saint Omer (Exhibition Catalogue, La Pendule au Negre, 29 April - 12 June 1978, no. 15).