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Lot Essay
Jean-André Lepaute, maître in 1759, horloger du Roi.
This barometer relates to the documented oeuvre of Claude-Joseph Desgodets (fl.1740-76), elected maître in 1749. A similar pair of Boulle marquetery barometers stamped by the ébéniste was sold by the Marquess of Cholmondeley, Works of Art from Houghton, in these Rooms, 8 December 1994, lot 28 (£67,500). Established in the rue des Vieux Augustins, Desgodets specialised in clock-cases, employing leading bronziers such as Jean-Joseph de St. Germain to execute the ormolu mounts. In 1745 Desgodets denounced the ébéniste Jean Goyer (maître in 1760) for plagiarizing his designs.
The Houghton barometers were acquired by Sir Philip Sassoon from Sir Richard Wallace's collection at 2 rue Lafitte, Paris, where they are recorded in a 1912 Inventory. Interestingly, Sir Richard also owned a wall-barometer and thermometer with the same mounts but in tulipwood parquetry in his collection at Hertford House, London before 1870 (see P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection, Catalogue of Furniture, I, Cambridge, 1996, 82 (F69), pp. 334-338). Hughes notes that a similar barometer by Lange de Bourbon was in the Mme. Louis Burat sale in Paris, 18 June 1937, lot 98, whilst a further parquetry barometer and matching clock was sold by the Trustees of Lord Hillingdon in these Rooms, 29 June 1972, lot 58.
This barometer relates to the documented oeuvre of Claude-Joseph Desgodets (fl.1740-76), elected maître in 1749. A similar pair of Boulle marquetery barometers stamped by the ébéniste was sold by the Marquess of Cholmondeley, Works of Art from Houghton, in these Rooms, 8 December 1994, lot 28 (£67,500). Established in the rue des Vieux Augustins, Desgodets specialised in clock-cases, employing leading bronziers such as Jean-Joseph de St. Germain to execute the ormolu mounts. In 1745 Desgodets denounced the ébéniste Jean Goyer (maître in 1760) for plagiarizing his designs.
The Houghton barometers were acquired by Sir Philip Sassoon from Sir Richard Wallace's collection at 2 rue Lafitte, Paris, where they are recorded in a 1912 Inventory. Interestingly, Sir Richard also owned a wall-barometer and thermometer with the same mounts but in tulipwood parquetry in his collection at Hertford House, London before 1870 (see P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection, Catalogue of Furniture, I, Cambridge, 1996, 82 (F69), pp. 334-338). Hughes notes that a similar barometer by Lange de Bourbon was in the Mme. Louis Burat sale in Paris, 18 June 1937, lot 98, whilst a further parquetry barometer and matching clock was sold by the Trustees of Lord Hillingdon in these Rooms, 29 June 1972, lot 58.