LÉPINE, PARIS, NO.4329. CIRCA 1790

Details

A Louis XVI ormolu and white marble striking figural mantel clock
Lépine, Paris, No.4329. Circa 1790
The drum case surmounted by the figure of a half-draped Bacchante and supported on a grape-festooned palanquin by two goat-riding cherubs, above D-ended plinth resting on toupie feet, the white enamel dial with unusual combined Roman and Arabic hour chapters, dot minute track and signed Lépine/PLACE DES VICTOIRES NO.10, countwheel adjustment lever by 50, with pierced ormolu hands, the one/two week duration movement with circular plates joined by four back-pinned pillars, with anchor escapement and silk suspension, countwheel strike on bell, the back plate signed Lepine hger Paris No.4329; pendulum mounted with vine leaves, key
49 cm. high

Special notice

Christie’s charges a premium to the buyer on the Hammer Price of each lot sold at the following rates: 29.75% of the Hammer Price of each lot up to and including €5,000, plus 23.8% of the Hammer Price between €5,001 and €400,000, plus 14.28% of any amount in excess of €400,001. Buyer’s premium is calculated on the basis of each lot individually.

Lot Essay

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
H. Ottomeyer & P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, Vol.I, p.280, fig.4.13.1
G. Wannenes, Le Più Belle Pendole Francesi - Da Luigi XIV all'Impero, Milan, 1991, p.89
Pierre Kjellberg, Encyclopédie de la Pendule Française, Paris, 1997, p.242, fig.B
An example of closely related design was sold Christie's London, Important European Furniture, Sculpture, Tapestries & Carpets, 12 June 2003, lot 1072. The clock, after a model introduced in Paris in the 1780s, celebrates Love's triumph by evoking the 'Feast of Bacchus'.

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