CIRCA 1780, THE DIAL SIGNED 'DE BELLE'

Details

A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU WHITE-MARBLE AND POLYCHROME-DECORATED MANTEL CLOCK
CIRCA 1780, THE DIAL SIGNED 'DE BELLE'
The circular white enamel dial with Arabic chapters and painted with a polychrome enamel floral garland, with a central aperture showing the phases of the moon, the dial surmounted by a bow-tied laurel garland and inset within a vase-form case with fluted neck issuing trailing floral sprays, the whole flanked to each side by a female nymph figure and to the right additionally with a figure of Cupid, with a polychrome floral trellis panel, on a shaped rectangular base with a central relief plaque depicting frolicking putti flanked to each side by a polychrome panel of a flower-filled basket, on turned feet
27 in. (69 cm.) high, 24 in. (61 cm.) wide, 7½ in. (19 cm.) deep

Special notice

This lot is offered without reserve.

Further details

This lot will be sold without reserve

Lot Essay

Jean-Franois Debelle, recorded on the rue Saint-Honoré, Paris, 1787-1800.

A related clock is illustrated in P. Kjellberg, Encyclopédie de La Pendule Française du Moyen Age au XXe Siègle, Paris, 1997, p. 256, pl. D., and a further example sold anonymously, Christie's, New York, 30 March 1999, lot 199. A closely related model with ormolu mounts instead of painted panels is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, with another example at the château de Fontainebleau, and a further sold from the collection of Alphonse de Rothschild, Christie's, London, 24 November 1972 (see H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 250, fig. 4.6.18.)

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