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Lot Essay
The clock recalls the poets' Arcadian paradise being borne by nymphs or bacchantae, who sport with rams while attending the harvest festival of the wine-deity Bacchus. Its laurel-wreathed marble 'altar' plinth displays Pan-mask medallions beside a poetic bas-relief trophy incorporating Apollo's sacred griffin.
The Parisian clockmaker Armingauld's signature appears on a clock of this model, that features a trophy of vines and is crowned by a bacchante in place of Jupiter's eagle (sold Tajan, Paris, 10 December 2001, lot 138).
The name of Armingauld, recorded in rue Meslay and boulevard de la Port Saint-Martin between 1806 and 1813), also appears on an ormolu-plinthed version of the latter model (H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. l. p. 213, no. 4.13.3.)
The Parisian clockmaker Armingauld's signature appears on a clock of this model, that features a trophy of vines and is crowned by a bacchante in place of Jupiter's eagle (sold Tajan, Paris, 10 December 2001, lot 138).
The name of Armingauld, recorded in rue Meslay and boulevard de la Port Saint-Martin between 1806 and 1813), also appears on an ormolu-plinthed version of the latter model (H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. l. p. 213, no. 4.13.3.)