Lot 119
119
A LATE LOUIS XV ORMOLU AND WHITE MARBLE MANTEL CLOCK
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A LATE LOUIS XV ORMOLU AND WHITE MARBLE MANTEL CLOCK

THE DIAL BY ROQUE A PARIS, CIRCA 1770

Details
A LATE LOUIS XV ORMOLU AND WHITE MARBLE MANTEL CLOCK
THE DIAL BY ROQUE A PARIS, CIRCA 1770
The circular Roman white-enamelled dial signed Roque A Paris with lyre-pierced and chased ormolu hands, the movement with circular plates, twin spring barrels, later platform escapement, strike on a bell via an elaborately pierced countwheel, the neo-classical vase-shaped case with floral finial and serpent and mask handles, flanked by a Cupid mourning his dove, on a shaped rectangular foliate-mounted base and foliate toupie feet
13 ¾ in. (35 cm.) high; 13 ½ in. (24 cm.) wide; 5 ¾ in. (14.5 cm) deep
Provenance
Acquired from the Abdy collection, presumably Sir Robert Abdy, Bt., of Newton Ferrers, Cornwall, 5 July 1928.
Special notice
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.

Lot Essay

The Catullus clock, with Cupid mourning beside a sunflowered urn displayed on a Venus rose-flowered and pearl-wreathed altar pedestal enriched with laurels, celebrates lyric poetry, and recalls the Roman poet Catullus' celebrated elegy on the death of Lesbia's favourite sparrow. The subject, referred to under various titles such as La Douleur or L'oiseau Mort, was also adopted in the 1770s for a clock-case manufactured by the ciseleur François Vion (H.Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, Vol. II, p.247, fig. 4.6.9).

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