.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Blanc Fils (Le Blanc), recorded working in Paris (Palais Royal), circa 1807-1825.
With its Bacchic masks, grapes and ewers flanking the sofa on which lays the bacchante, and the satyr attributes such as the syrinx, goat and hoof feet, this clock is emblematic of the tragic loves of Erigone and Bacchus. After Bacchus presented the first grape vine to Erigone's father, Icarios, and taught him the art of wine-making, Icarios was slained by shepherds encountered on his travels, who had become inebriated after discovering the fatal drink.
Among related clocks featuring Erigone charmée par l'Amour, a clock by Thomire is in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (illustrated in H. Ottomeyer & P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich 1986, p.379, fig. 5.15.19) another at Pavlovsk (ill. A. Vassilievna Alexeieva, Pavlovsk, the Collections, Paris 1993, vol. I, p. 184, fig. 7), and another illustrated in P. Kjellberg, Encyclopédie de La Pendule Française, Paris 1997, p. 402, fig. C).
Closely related examples by Thomire were sold: Christie's New York, 24 November 1998, lot 44 ($101,500); Blanchet Paris, 15 December 1999, lot 92 (FF400,000), and another by André-Antoine Ravrio, Sotheby's Amsterdam, 3 December 2002, lot 21 (Eur59,245).
With its Bacchic masks, grapes and ewers flanking the sofa on which lays the bacchante, and the satyr attributes such as the syrinx, goat and hoof feet, this clock is emblematic of the tragic loves of Erigone and Bacchus. After Bacchus presented the first grape vine to Erigone's father, Icarios, and taught him the art of wine-making, Icarios was slained by shepherds encountered on his travels, who had become inebriated after discovering the fatal drink.
Among related clocks featuring Erigone charmée par l'Amour, a clock by Thomire is in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (illustrated in H. Ottomeyer & P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich 1986, p.379, fig. 5.15.19) another at Pavlovsk (ill. A. Vassilievna Alexeieva, Pavlovsk, the Collections, Paris 1993, vol. I, p. 184, fig. 7), and another illustrated in P. Kjellberg, Encyclopédie de La Pendule Française, Paris 1997, p. 402, fig. C).
Closely related examples by Thomire were sold: Christie's New York, 24 November 1998, lot 44 ($101,500); Blanchet Paris, 15 December 1999, lot 92 (FF400,000), and another by André-Antoine Ravrio, Sotheby's Amsterdam, 3 December 2002, lot 21 (Eur59,245).