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Lot Essay
This richly-carved clock, which is decorated with musical trophies and abundant floral swags, is closely related to an organ clock acquired around 1874 by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild for Waddesdon Manor and discussed by G. de Bellaigue in The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, Fribourg, 1974, Vol. I, pp. 161-163 (see also A. Ord-Home, The Musical Clock, Ashbourne, 1995, pl. V/53). The Waddesdon organ clock was traditionally thought to be German, and possibly executed by a thus far unknown carver, H. C. Micheelis, whose signature appears on the Orpheus figure flanking the case. However, the overall proportions, several aspects of the carving and in particular the detailed Dutch inscriptions on the barrels of the organ would confirm that the Waddesdon clock was executed in Holland rather than in Germany (G. de Bellaigue, op. cit., p. 162).
The carving of both the Waddesdon and Longleat clocks is related to an impressive lyre-shaped mahogany clock by the Amsterdam horlogemaker Jan. N. Boyon, dated 1791, which is now in in the Utrecht Museum van Speelklok tot Pierement (R. Baarsen, De Amsterdamse meubelloterijen, Zwolle, 1992, p. 61).
THE ICONOGRAPHY
The organ-case, conceived in the French goût Grec fashion, evokes lyric poetry's triumph with an urn-capped pillar paned with light-reflecting mirror and festooned with laurels and roses. The bronze bust may be of Euterpe, Muse of lyric poetry and Mt. Parnassus companion of the poetry deity Apollo, crowns the veil-festooned clock, which is incorporated in its Grecian-stepped base. Veil-festooned bacchic ram-heads enrich the hollowed cornice of its 'altar' pedestal, whose poetic bas-relief trophy of beribboned pipes, trumpet and music is wreathed by sunflowers to recall Apollo's love.
The carving of both the Waddesdon and Longleat clocks is related to an impressive lyre-shaped mahogany clock by the Amsterdam horlogemaker Jan. N. Boyon, dated 1791, which is now in in the Utrecht Museum van Speelklok tot Pierement (R. Baarsen, De Amsterdamse meubelloterijen, Zwolle, 1992, p. 61).
THE ICONOGRAPHY
The organ-case, conceived in the French goût Grec fashion, evokes lyric poetry's triumph with an urn-capped pillar paned with light-reflecting mirror and festooned with laurels and roses. The bronze bust may be of Euterpe, Muse of lyric poetry and Mt. Parnassus companion of the poetry deity Apollo, crowns the veil-festooned clock, which is incorporated in its Grecian-stepped base. Veil-festooned bacchic ram-heads enrich the hollowed cornice of its 'altar' pedestal, whose poetic bas-relief trophy of beribboned pipes, trumpet and music is wreathed by sunflowers to recall Apollo's love.