A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU MANTEL CLOCK, the glazed circular Roman and Arabic-chaptered enamelled dial signed FREDERICKDUVAL/A PARIS, the twin barrel movement signed Frédéric du Val A Paris with countwheel strike on bell, surmounted by a ribbon and hung with fruiting laurel trails resting on books and flanked by the personification of Astronomy seated on a plinth with Vitruvian-scroll frieze flanked by various astronomical instruments, on a further rectanglar plinth with paterae to each corner, lacking escapement

細節

A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU MANTEL CLOCK, the glazed circular Roman and Arabic-chaptered enamelled dial signed FREDERICKDUVAL/A PARIS, the twin barrel movement signed Frédéric du Val A Paris with countwheel strike on bell, surmounted by a ribbon and hung with fruiting laurel trails resting on books and flanked by the personification of Astronomy seated on a plinth with Vitruvian-scroll frieze flanked by various astronomical instruments, on a further rectanglar plinth with paterae to each corner, lacking escapement
13½in. (34cm.) high

拍品專文

This clock is closely related to the design from the workshop of Pierre-Antoine Foullet of circa 1760 (H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, I, p. 162, fig. 3.3.6) , which appears to be one of his earliest neo-classical designs. This early date is confirmed by the clocks appearance in the chambre du lit of the duc de Choiseuil's hôtel, where it is depicted on the cover of the choiseuil box, painted by Louis Nicholas van Blarenberghe circa 1770 (ibid., I, p. 162, fig. 3.3.7)
A very similar mantel clock by Henri Voisin is illustrated in Tardy, La Pendule Française, Paris, 1969, vol. II, p. 241. A related clock by Pierre-Antoine Foullet in the Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, is illustrated in H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al., op.cit., I, p. 162, fig. 3.3.7 and a further model by Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain in ibid., p. 534, fig. 16.
A comparable clock was sold in these Rooms, 12 April 1984, lot 36 by the Marquess of Cholmondeley K.C.V.O., M.C., D.L. T