A DIRECTOIRE ORMOLU, WHITE MARBLE AND JEWELLED ENAMEL STRIKING SKELETON CLOCK, the enamel by Joseph Coteau the annular white enamel Arabic dial with gilt arrow-head and blued steel counterpoised sweep centre second hand, the outer calendar ring decorated with gold paillons with mother-of-pearl and red and green jewelling, concentric indication for day of week with its corresponding deity indicated by a double-ended blued steel hand, the rolling phase de lune above, its age indicated by a gold paillon pointer at the tip of each moon, the twin going barrel movement with countwheel strike on bell, pin-wheel escapement with steel-suspended Apollo sunburst gridiron pendulum with fine crutch-piece adjustment, the Y-form lower frame set with a white enamel month disc each with its corresponding number of days and zodiac and signed Coteau on the reverse, the signature plaque below signed Laurent à Paris within a mother-of-pearl border, the reverse similarly signed Coteau, terminal medallions painted with the muses of Science and Literature en grisaille, the white marble plinth with an ormolu frieze of playing putti and on toupie feet, the ebonised oval base lacking dome17¾in. (45cm.) high

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

A DIRECTOIRE ORMOLU, WHITE MARBLE AND JEWELLED ENAMEL STRIKING SKELETON CLOCK, the enamel by Joseph Coteau the annular white enamel Arabic dial with gilt arrow-head and blued steel counterpoised sweep centre second hand, the outer calendar ring decorated with gold paillons with mother-of-pearl and red and green jewelling, concentric indication for day of week with its corresponding deity indicated by a double-ended blued steel hand, the rolling phase de lune above, its age indicated by a gold paillon pointer at the tip of each moon, the twin going barrel movement with countwheel strike on bell, pin-wheel escapement with steel-suspended Apollo sunburst gridiron pendulum with fine crutch-piece adjustment, the Y-form lower frame set with a white enamel month disc each with its corresponding number of days and zodiac and signed Coteau on the reverse, the signature plaque below signed Laurent à Paris within a mother-of-pearl border, the reverse similarly signed Coteau, terminal medallions painted with the muses of Science and Literature en grisaille, the white marble plinth with an ormolu frieze of playing putti and on toupie feet, the ebonised oval base lacking dome 17¾in. (45cm.) high

Details

A DIRECTOIRE ORMOLU, WHITE MARBLE AND JEWELLED ENAMEL STRIKING SKELETON CLOCK, the enamel by Joseph Coteau the annular white enamel Arabic dial with gilt arrow-head and blued steel counterpoised sweep centre second hand, the outer calendar ring decorated with gold paillons with mother-of-pearl and red and green jewelling, concentric indication for day of week with its corresponding deity indicated by a double-ended blued steel hand, the rolling phase de lune above, its age indicated by a gold paillon pointer at the tip of each moon, the twin going barrel movement with countwheel strike on bell, pin-wheel escapement with steel-suspended Apollo sunburst gridiron pendulum with fine crutch-piece adjustment, the Y-form lower frame set with a white enamel month disc each with its corresponding number of days and zodiac and signed Coteau on the reverse, the signature plaque below signed Laurent à Paris within a mother-of-pearl border, the reverse similarly signed Coteau, terminal medallions painted with the muses of Science and Literature en grisaille, the white marble plinth with an ormolu frieze of playing putti and on toupie feet, the ebonised oval base lacking dome
17¾in. (45cm.) high

Lot Essay

Joseph Coteau, émailleur, maître in 1788

Originally from Geneva, the celebrated émailleur Joseph Coteau was appointed peintre-émailleur du roi et de la Manufacture Royale de Sèvres in 1780. He claimed that he had invented the method 'd'appliquer solidement l'or marié avec les émaux de toutes couleurs sur la porcelaine', but his difficult temperament led to the termination of his association with the Sèvres factory in 1784, and he consequently established himself as an indépendent
This pendule squelette is of virtually identical design with that also by Laurent and Coteau in the Musée Carnavalet Paris (illustrated in Tardy, La Pendule Francaise Paris, n.d., 2me Partie, p. 168). A clock with identical putto bas-relief frieze is in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Lyon, while further related clocks were sold anonymously at Ader Picard Tajan, Paris on 28 February 1978, lot 55 and on 13 December 1980, lot 65. A further model, from the collection of Sir Anthony de Rothschild, was sold by the Executors of the Hon. Mrs Yorke, in these Rooms, 5 May 1927, lot 89

More from French Furniture

View All