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Lot Essay
The 'C' couronné poinçon was a tax mark employed on any alloy containing copper between March 1745 and February 1749.
Etienne Baillon, son of Jean-Baptiste I Baillon, the father of the Baillon dynasty of horlogers, received his maîtrise in Paris, establishing himself on the rue des Orties in 1708 and later moving to the rue de Richelieu by 1714.
The attribution to Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain is based upon two signed models of almost identical design, save for the fact that the putto to the left of Diana faces outwards on this example. The two signed examples with the putto facing Diana are illustrated in H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, vol. I, Munich, 1986, p.115, fig, 2.5.4 et al. J-D. Augarde, Les Ouvriers du Temps, Geneva, 1996, p.333, fig. 251. While it is certainly conceivable that this putto may have been associated from a diffent cartel, it is also equally possible that this putto has always been on this clock, and this hypothesis is given some credence by the fact that the same small 'C' couronné poinçon is found on both the putto and Diana. Moreover, a related clock of this identical model, save for the fact that it has a slightly differently modelled putto also facing away from Diana is illustrated in Tardy, La Pendule Française, Paris, 1974, première partie, p.191.
Elected as a maître-fondeur on 15 July 1748, Saint-Germain enjoyed the privilege of an ouvrier libre - enabling him to act both as an ébéniste and bronzier. He frequently supplied cases cast with animal forms and allegorical figures to the leading clockmakers of Paris, including the le Roy workshops, Etienne Lenoir and Jean-Philippe Gosselin. The quality of chasing and modelling in Saint-Germain's animal and foliate decorated cases also suggests close study of the natural world. A man of his times, Saint-Germain probably received a rudimentary education in rhetoric, the Classics and calculus in addition to a formal study of sculpture and draughtsmanship, reflecting the social and economic status of his family. Evidence for this early education is seen in the substantial library and finely organized cabinet of curiosities he amassed. This collection, in turn, sheds light upon his interests in the natural sciences, particularly botany and mineralogy, and the quality of his bronze casts (J.-D. Augarde, "Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain: Bronzier (1719-1791)", L'Estampille/l'Objet d'Art, December, 1996, pp. 63-82).
Cartel clocks of this model with movements by Baillon include:- one in the musée du Louvre, Paris, accession number OA 9398, given by Leopold Libey in 1945, the case signed by Jean-Joseph Saint-Germain; another sold anonymously at Gallerie Koller, Zurich, Switzerland, 12-18 May 1977; another in a Swiss Private collection; and a final example in a French Private collection.
Etienne Baillon, son of Jean-Baptiste I Baillon, the father of the Baillon dynasty of horlogers, received his maîtrise in Paris, establishing himself on the rue des Orties in 1708 and later moving to the rue de Richelieu by 1714.
The attribution to Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain is based upon two signed models of almost identical design, save for the fact that the putto to the left of Diana faces outwards on this example. The two signed examples with the putto facing Diana are illustrated in H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, vol. I, Munich, 1986, p.115, fig, 2.5.4 et al. J-D. Augarde, Les Ouvriers du Temps, Geneva, 1996, p.333, fig. 251. While it is certainly conceivable that this putto may have been associated from a diffent cartel, it is also equally possible that this putto has always been on this clock, and this hypothesis is given some credence by the fact that the same small 'C' couronné poinçon is found on both the putto and Diana. Moreover, a related clock of this identical model, save for the fact that it has a slightly differently modelled putto also facing away from Diana is illustrated in Tardy, La Pendule Française, Paris, 1974, première partie, p.191.
Elected as a maître-fondeur on 15 July 1748, Saint-Germain enjoyed the privilege of an ouvrier libre - enabling him to act both as an ébéniste and bronzier. He frequently supplied cases cast with animal forms and allegorical figures to the leading clockmakers of Paris, including the le Roy workshops, Etienne Lenoir and Jean-Philippe Gosselin. The quality of chasing and modelling in Saint-Germain's animal and foliate decorated cases also suggests close study of the natural world. A man of his times, Saint-Germain probably received a rudimentary education in rhetoric, the Classics and calculus in addition to a formal study of sculpture and draughtsmanship, reflecting the social and economic status of his family. Evidence for this early education is seen in the substantial library and finely organized cabinet of curiosities he amassed. This collection, in turn, sheds light upon his interests in the natural sciences, particularly botany and mineralogy, and the quality of his bronze casts (J.-D. Augarde, "Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain: Bronzier (1719-1791)", L'Estampille/l'Objet d'Art, December, 1996, pp. 63-82).
Cartel clocks of this model with movements by Baillon include:- one in the musée du Louvre, Paris, accession number OA 9398, given by Leopold Libey in 1945, the case signed by Jean-Joseph Saint-Germain; another sold anonymously at Gallerie Koller, Zurich, Switzerland, 12-18 May 1977; another in a Swiss Private collection; and a final example in a French Private collection.