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Lot Essay
The paper label to the underside of the clock indicates that this lot was once in the collection of the Earls of Shelburne, Marquesses of Lansdowne. John Petty (Earl of Shelburne in 1753) was created Marquess of Lansdowne in 1784. His son, William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne and Prime Minister of Great Britain 1782-1783 became 2nd Marquess of Lansdowne. The Hon. Emily Jane Mercer-Elphinstone-de Flahaut (1819-1895), married Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice in 1843, becoming 4th Marchioness of Lansdowne in 1863, upon the 4th Marquis' succession. She was the daughter of Auguste Charles Joseph de Flahaut, Comte de Flahaut de la Billarderie (1785-1870), the son of the Prince of Talleyrand and Margaret Mercer Elphinstone, Baroness Keith and Nairne (1788-1867). The Flahauts were married for 50 years (1817-1867) and maintained houses of considerable grandeur in Paris, London, Vienna and Scotland. Much of their collection came into the Lansdowne family through their daughter's marriage to the 4th Marquis, although Lord Lansdowne (d.1866) was himself a distinguished collector. Through the 4th Marchioness, Meikleour House in Perthshire passed to the Lansdowne family. The inventory number 'MH 6185' may refer to the house.
The wild boar appears relatively infrequently as a subject on French animalier clocks of the Louis XV period. Tardy (French Clocks, Vol II, Paris, 1981, p. 15) illustrates a clock by Le Faucheur with boar of related design (subsequently sold Christie's Monaco, 16 June 1990, lot 220) and another may be seen on a clock by Dutertre sold Tajan, 12 December 1995, lot 247. An ormolu version was sold Sotheby's New York, the Roberto Polo collection, 3 November 1989, lot 31. H. Ottomeyer & P. Pröschel (Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, p. 123, fig. 2.8.4) illustrate a boar clock by Jean-François Autran with a drum case surmounted by a cherub, also resting on an associated contemporary green horn plinth with musical (organ) movement. This clock was subsequently sold, the Dr Anton Dreesmann Collection, Christie's London, 10 April 2002, lot 340.
Examples of pendules a l'elephant with musical plinths of related design to the present example may be seen in P. Kjellberg, Encyclopédie de la Pendule Française, Paris, 1997, p. 128, figs. A and B. A superb rhinoceros clock on corne verte musical plinth, the clock by Beliard and the plinth attributed to Joseph de Saint-Germain was sold Christie's New York, the Property of a European Noble Family, 31 October 1996, lot 417. Red tortoiseshell plinths with ormolu mounts closely resembling those of the present clock (cf. the gadrooned border intersected by a conjoined scroll and the central musical trophy mount within a scrolling frame) may be seen on a Europa and Bull clock sold Sotheby's London, 16 June 1989, lot 32 and on an elephant clock from The Collection of the Margraves and Grand Dukes of Baden, sold Sotheby's House sale, 5 October 1995, lot 121. The plinth of the latter clock, which houses an organ movement has a fretwork panel to its reverse which is identical to that of the present clock.
Antoine-Henry Voisin (b.1733-d.after 1815) took over his father's business in 1760 and under his management it became one of the most important in Paris until the revolution. He used cases by J.J. de Saint-Germain, J.B. and R. Osmond, B. Lieutaud, A. Foullet, F. Vion and Leduc. He was at rue Dauphine and later at Quai des Grands-Augustins. See J-D. Augarde, Les Ouvriers du Temps, Geneva, 1996, p. 406.
The wild boar appears relatively infrequently as a subject on French animalier clocks of the Louis XV period. Tardy (French Clocks, Vol II, Paris, 1981, p. 15) illustrates a clock by Le Faucheur with boar of related design (subsequently sold Christie's Monaco, 16 June 1990, lot 220) and another may be seen on a clock by Dutertre sold Tajan, 12 December 1995, lot 247. An ormolu version was sold Sotheby's New York, the Roberto Polo collection, 3 November 1989, lot 31. H. Ottomeyer & P. Pröschel (Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, p. 123, fig. 2.8.4) illustrate a boar clock by Jean-François Autran with a drum case surmounted by a cherub, also resting on an associated contemporary green horn plinth with musical (organ) movement. This clock was subsequently sold, the Dr Anton Dreesmann Collection, Christie's London, 10 April 2002, lot 340.
Examples of pendules a l'elephant with musical plinths of related design to the present example may be seen in P. Kjellberg, Encyclopédie de la Pendule Française, Paris, 1997, p. 128, figs. A and B. A superb rhinoceros clock on corne verte musical plinth, the clock by Beliard and the plinth attributed to Joseph de Saint-Germain was sold Christie's New York, the Property of a European Noble Family, 31 October 1996, lot 417. Red tortoiseshell plinths with ormolu mounts closely resembling those of the present clock (cf. the gadrooned border intersected by a conjoined scroll and the central musical trophy mount within a scrolling frame) may be seen on a Europa and Bull clock sold Sotheby's London, 16 June 1989, lot 32 and on an elephant clock from The Collection of the Margraves and Grand Dukes of Baden, sold Sotheby's House sale, 5 October 1995, lot 121. The plinth of the latter clock, which houses an organ movement has a fretwork panel to its reverse which is identical to that of the present clock.
Antoine-Henry Voisin (b.1733-d.after 1815) took over his father's business in 1760 and under his management it became one of the most important in Paris until the revolution. He used cases by J.J. de Saint-Germain, J.B. and R. Osmond, B. Lieutaud, A. Foullet, F. Vion and Leduc. He was at rue Dauphine and later at Quai des Grands-Augustins. See J-D. Augarde, Les Ouvriers du Temps, Geneva, 1996, p. 406.