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Lot Essay
Jean-Pierre Tavernier, maître in 1746.
Jean-Soseph de Saint Germain, maître fondeur in 1748.
The figure of the elephant is thought to have derived from a Kakiemon porcelain model, an example of which is at Burghley House, Lincolnshire (Porcelain from Palaces, exhibtion catalogue, London, 1990, p. 178, no. 160), which were subsequently copied at the St. Cloud manufactory. Although elephants had been celebrated in the West since antiquity, the fashion for such exotic animals in France was particularly encouraged by the gift in 1686 of a whole menagerie to Louis XIV from the ambassador of the King of Siam. This gift included an elephant, a tiger and a lion, and such beasts soon appeared in products as diverse as Gobelins tapestries and Meissen porcelain. Draughtsmen and ornamentistes routinely produced, copied and plagiarised popular subjects in response to changing tastes and current events.
COMPARABLE EXAMPLES
Clocks with almost identical cases and bases are illustrated in H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, p. 123, fig. 2.8.3 (dial signed by Moisy); E. Niehüser, French Bronze Clocks, 1700 - 1830, Atglen, 1999, p. 239, cat. 885, P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dorés Français du XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 1987, p. 192, fig. 215, and H. Legellé, dit Tardy, La Pendule Française des Origines à nos Jours, Paris, 1949, vol. I, p. 171 (dial signed by Viger), the latter two mounted on a musical box. A further clock of this model with movement by Pierre-Philippe Barat from the collection of Countess Rossi di Montelera, was sold Christie's, London, 7 July 2005, lot 477, and another on its musical base from the collection of Julius Bodenstein, Rudolph Lepke, Berlin, 5 April 1909, plate XII.
JEAN-JOSEPH DE SAINT-GERMAIN
Elected as a maître fondeur en terre et en sable on 15 July 1748, Saint-Germain (1719 - 1791) enjoyed the privilege of an ouvrier libre - enabling him to act both as an ébéniste and bronzier. He frequently supplied cases cast with animal forms and allegorical figures to the leading clockmakers of Paris, including the le Roy workshops, Etienne Lenoir and Jean-Philippe Gosselin. The quality of chasing and modelling in Saint-Germain's animal and foliate decorated cases also suggests close study of the natural world. His collection of books and objects sheds light on his interests in the natural sciences, particularly botany and mineralogy, explaining the quality of his bronze casts (J.-D. Augarde, 'Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain: Bronzier (1719 - 1791)', L'Estampille L'Objet d'Art, December, 1996, pp. 63 - 82).
Pleas see also lot 75 for a clock by Jean-Joseph de Saint Germain with rhinoceros support.
Jean-Soseph de Saint Germain, maître fondeur in 1748.
The figure of the elephant is thought to have derived from a Kakiemon porcelain model, an example of which is at Burghley House, Lincolnshire (Porcelain from Palaces, exhibtion catalogue, London, 1990, p. 178, no. 160), which were subsequently copied at the St. Cloud manufactory. Although elephants had been celebrated in the West since antiquity, the fashion for such exotic animals in France was particularly encouraged by the gift in 1686 of a whole menagerie to Louis XIV from the ambassador of the King of Siam. This gift included an elephant, a tiger and a lion, and such beasts soon appeared in products as diverse as Gobelins tapestries and Meissen porcelain. Draughtsmen and ornamentistes routinely produced, copied and plagiarised popular subjects in response to changing tastes and current events.
COMPARABLE EXAMPLES
Clocks with almost identical cases and bases are illustrated in H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, p. 123, fig. 2.8.3 (dial signed by Moisy); E. Niehüser, French Bronze Clocks, 1700 - 1830, Atglen, 1999, p. 239, cat. 885, P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dorés Français du XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 1987, p. 192, fig. 215, and H. Legellé, dit Tardy, La Pendule Française des Origines à nos Jours, Paris, 1949, vol. I, p. 171 (dial signed by Viger), the latter two mounted on a musical box. A further clock of this model with movement by Pierre-Philippe Barat from the collection of Countess Rossi di Montelera, was sold Christie's, London, 7 July 2005, lot 477, and another on its musical base from the collection of Julius Bodenstein, Rudolph Lepke, Berlin, 5 April 1909, plate XII.
JEAN-JOSEPH DE SAINT-GERMAIN
Elected as a maître fondeur en terre et en sable on 15 July 1748, Saint-Germain (1719 - 1791) enjoyed the privilege of an ouvrier libre - enabling him to act both as an ébéniste and bronzier. He frequently supplied cases cast with animal forms and allegorical figures to the leading clockmakers of Paris, including the le Roy workshops, Etienne Lenoir and Jean-Philippe Gosselin. The quality of chasing and modelling in Saint-Germain's animal and foliate decorated cases also suggests close study of the natural world. His collection of books and objects sheds light on his interests in the natural sciences, particularly botany and mineralogy, explaining the quality of his bronze casts (J.-D. Augarde, 'Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain: Bronzier (1719 - 1791)', L'Estampille L'Objet d'Art, December, 1996, pp. 63 - 82).
Pleas see also lot 75 for a clock by Jean-Joseph de Saint Germain with rhinoceros support.