MARTIN, PARIS, CIRCA 1770, THE CASE BY ROBERT OSMOND

This model, conceived in the elegant goût grec was almost certainly first executed by Robert Osmond. Maître-fondeur en terre et sable from 1746 and appointed juré des fondeurs in 1756, Osmond often signed his pieces. Influenced by the bronzier Philippe Caffièri, Osmond was one of the first to interpret the new neo-classical style. His work was much in demand among sophisticated collectors and aristocratic patrons. As a result, his atelier flourished in the early 1760s. Assisted by his nephew Jean-Baptiste Osmond, maître-fondeur in 1764, who succeeded him on his death in 1789, the Osmonds included most of the avant-garde elite of French society amongst their clients.

A clock of similar design is illustrated in P. Kjellberg, La Pendule Française, Paris 1997, p. 194. and in H. Ottomeyer & P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Vol. II (München, 1986), p. 184-185.