.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Etienne II Lenoir (1699-1778) maître horloger in 1717.
The design for this clock appears as No. 17 in the Livre de desseins where it is given to Pierre-Antoine Foullet, and described as Cabinet d'Ebenisterie longue piece de table chinoise, and costing 144 livres for the gilt version (H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et. al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, fig. 3.2.9. A very similar clock with movement by Ridereau, the case stamped by Jean Goyer, traditionally thought to have belonged to the Duc de Choiseul, sold in these Rooms 23 June 1966, lot 40, is illustrated in S. Eriksen, Early Neo-Classism in France, London, 1974, fig. 107. It was also fitted with a compensating pendulum ending in a barometer dial and it is likely that this clock originally had a similar arrangement in the glazed lyre case.
The Goyer family specialised in clockcases and Jean Goyer (maître in 1760) and his father François (d.1763) continued the tradition. Jean Goyer was the brother-in-law of René Dubois and they had close ties - their most celebrated collaboration was the monumental secretaire at Waddesdon, (G. de Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, London, 1974, no. 66). The series of clock cases of this model may well be the result of their collaboration.
The design for this clock appears as No. 17 in the Livre de desseins where it is given to Pierre-Antoine Foullet, and described as Cabinet d'Ebenisterie longue piece de table chinoise, and costing 144 livres for the gilt version (H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et. al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, fig. 3.2.9. A very similar clock with movement by Ridereau, the case stamped by Jean Goyer, traditionally thought to have belonged to the Duc de Choiseul, sold in these Rooms 23 June 1966, lot 40, is illustrated in S. Eriksen, Early Neo-Classism in France, London, 1974, fig. 107. It was also fitted with a compensating pendulum ending in a barometer dial and it is likely that this clock originally had a similar arrangement in the glazed lyre case.
The Goyer family specialised in clockcases and Jean Goyer (maître in 1760) and his father François (d.1763) continued the tradition. Jean Goyer was the brother-in-law of René Dubois and they had close ties - their most celebrated collaboration was the monumental secretaire at Waddesdon, (G. de Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, London, 1974, no. 66). The series of clock cases of this model may well be the result of their collaboration.