A LATE LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD CLOCK/THERMOMETER
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A LATE LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD CLOCK/THERMOMETER

BY JEAN-ANDRE LEPAUTE, THE CASE ATTRIBUTED TO CLAUDE-JOSEPH DESGODETS CIRCA 1760-1765

细节
A LATE LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD CLOCK/THERMOMETER
BY JEAN-ANDRE LEPAUTE, THE CASE ATTRIBUTED TO CLAUDE-JOSEPH DESGODETS CIRCA 1760-1765
Of elongated serpentine shape, the white enamel convex dial signed Lepaute Hger DU ROI with Roman and Arabic chapters, pierced and chased gilt-metal hands, the backplate decorated with foliate rockwork mounts and headed by a shaped cartouche flanked by branches, with alcohol thermometer below calibrated -20 - +40 and mercurial thermometer above inscribed Thermometre Réamur and calibrated -20 - +50, the clock movement of unusually shallow construction with later anchor escapement, strike on a bell via a large countwheel planted on the backplate
45¾ in. (116 cm.) high; 13¾ in. (35 cm.) wide
来源
The René Fribourg Collection, sold Sotheby's London, 28 June 1963, lot 173.
注意事项
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

拍品专文

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.