BY THOMIRE ET CIE., SECOND QUARTER 19TH CENTURY

Details

A LOUIS-PHILIPPE ORMOLU MANTEL CLOCK
BY THOMIRE ET CIE., SECOND QUARTER 19TH CENTURY
The case of architectural outshape with an arched broken-pediment centred by a griffon-flanked vase hung with fruiting swags, above a white-enamel Roman chaptered dial signed THOMIRE & CIE/DE LA COMBIE HORLOGER flanked by kneeling putti and acanthus-scrolled volutes, above low relief panels elaborately cast with peacocks, grotesque masks and classical attributes, flanked to each side by a winged caryatid, on a canted stepped base, the twin-train movement with back plate inscribed H..ger/DE LA COMBE à Paris and numbered 747
26½ in. (67 cm.) high; 16¼ in. (41.5 cm.) wide; 7½ in. (19 cm.) deep

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The firm of Thomire et Cie was established by Pierre-Philippe Thomire (d. 1843), certainly one of the most well-known and important bronziers during the early part of the 19th century. He trained under Pajou and Houdon at the Acadéemie de Saint-Luc and later under the master bronzier Gouthière. Known as Thomire et Cie from 1819, the company ceased production in the early 1850s, unable to adapt to the changing styles of the second half of the century and anchored by the high standards of its deep-rooted manufacturing techniques, which made its own costs vastly greater than others.

A similar but less elaborate clock, made for the 1842 Paris Exhibition, is illustrated in Tardy, La Pendule Française, des origines à nos jours, pt. II. It is now in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.

Another example of this model clock by Thomire et Cie, identical but for having columnar supports to the sides rather than the more elaborate winged caryatids found here, was sold in these rooms, 14 May 1998, lot 34 (£35,600).

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