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Lot Essay
This magnificent clock pedestal was undoubtedly made by the Parisian ébéniste Jean-Pierre Latz (circa 1691-1754). It is almost identical to two pedestals (each with a clock, one signed by Gille l'Ainé à Paris and struck with the C couronné poinçon for 1745-49) at Schloss Moritzburg near Dresden (H. Hawley, 'Jean-Pierre Latz, Cabinetmaker', The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum, September-October 1970, pp. 219-220, figs. 6 & 6A), themselves attributed to Latz on the basis of the similarity in their mounts and marquetry to other pedestals made for clocks either stamped by Latz or attributed to him. The Moritzburg pedestals, whose clocks feature a double-headed eagle above the clock face, were almost certainly supplied to Count Brühl for the Residenzschloss, Dresden (whose coat-of-arms is quartered with the eagle motif), before their seizure by the Saxon state after the death of Augustus III. A further clock supplied to Brühl (Hawley, op. cit., pp. 222-223, fig. 10) also features many of the same mounts to the base of the pedestal. The Riahi pedestal was therefore almost certainly made by Latz for the German market; and the inscription recorded as being to the reverse of the pedestal when it was sold in 1994 - Speise Saal - reinforces this hypothesis. A design for a clock and a commode, presumably by the Swedish architect and designer Carl Härleman (1700-1753), either from his own drawings or one by another artist (it bears his blind stamp), bears similarities to the Riahi pedestal, particularly the shape of the base (H. Hawley, 'A reputation revived, Jean-Pierre Latz cabinet-maker', The Connoisseur, November 1979, p. 176).
Latz was born near Cologne around 1691 and settled in Paris by 1719. He became naturalised in 1736 and obtained the warrant of ébéniste privilégié du roi before 1741. The inventories drawn up following his death in 1754 and his wife's death in 1756 indicate that the main activity of his workshop was the production of clock-cases. The 1754 inventory lists one hundred and seventy clock-cases and only forty-eight other pieces of furniture. The 1756 inventory lists ninety-two clock-cases and only thirty-three items of furniture. These were mainly bracket (or pedestal) clocks. The majority appear to have been decorated with Boulle marquetry, which Latz continued to employ on clocks when it had largely gone out of fashion on other furniture types. Latz's work is characterised by bold free-moving sculptural forms richly decorated with exuberant gilt-bronze mounts and often inlaid with complex Boulle marquetry. He is one of the few ébénistes to whom furniture can confidently be attributed on the basis of the ormolu mounts. It is known that he cast and chased his own ormolu mounts on his premises in contravention of guild rules. A report written in 1749 following the seizure of ormolu mounts from his workshop at the instigation of the bronze-caster's guild lists 2,288 different bronze models and parts. This, allied with clock-cases stamped by Latz including one in the Cleveland Museum of Art and another at Waddesdon Manor, both of which are stamped with the C couronné poinçon, formed the basis of Henry Hawley's pioneering examination of this ébéniste's work (The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum, pp. 203-259).
It is likely that Latz produced much of his furniture for the German market, and a large proportion of his best works are to be found in Berlin and Dresden. Both Frederick II of Prussia and Augustus III, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, ordered much furniture from Paris and particularly from Latz. These include clock nos. 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18 and 19 listed by Hawley (ibid.). The inventory after the death of Latz lists Monsieur Petit, commissionnaire du Roy de Prusse as one of his creditors. This was probably Mathieu-François Petit and may relate to an unfinished clock intended for the King of Prussia and valued at 1450 livres. He also owed 2127 livres to Monsieur Leleux, agens du Roys de Prusse, who was probably in fact agent to the Elector of Saxony. A contre-partie Boulle marquetry clock by Latz at Schloss Charlottenburg was exhibited 'Friedrich der Grosse: Sammler und Mäzen', Munich, 1992-3 (Exhibition Catalogue, no. 182). Two further clocks and pedestals executed by Latz for the German market since Hawley's study in 1970 have come to light: a clock by Latz, probably previously at Schloss Moritzburg, was sold Sotheby's New York, 17 November 1984, lot 175; and another clock and pedestal by Latz formerly in the collection of the Kings of Saxony at the Dresden Residenz and subsequently belonging to the Seligmann family, with closely related design to the marquetry panel on the front of the pedestal (also related to no. 11 in Hawley's study, op. cit.) was sold Sotheby's Monaco, 14-15 June 1982, lot 57.
Latz was born near Cologne around 1691 and settled in Paris by 1719. He became naturalised in 1736 and obtained the warrant of ébéniste privilégié du roi before 1741. The inventories drawn up following his death in 1754 and his wife's death in 1756 indicate that the main activity of his workshop was the production of clock-cases. The 1754 inventory lists one hundred and seventy clock-cases and only forty-eight other pieces of furniture. The 1756 inventory lists ninety-two clock-cases and only thirty-three items of furniture. These were mainly bracket (or pedestal) clocks. The majority appear to have been decorated with Boulle marquetry, which Latz continued to employ on clocks when it had largely gone out of fashion on other furniture types. Latz's work is characterised by bold free-moving sculptural forms richly decorated with exuberant gilt-bronze mounts and often inlaid with complex Boulle marquetry. He is one of the few ébénistes to whom furniture can confidently be attributed on the basis of the ormolu mounts. It is known that he cast and chased his own ormolu mounts on his premises in contravention of guild rules. A report written in 1749 following the seizure of ormolu mounts from his workshop at the instigation of the bronze-caster's guild lists 2,288 different bronze models and parts. This, allied with clock-cases stamped by Latz including one in the Cleveland Museum of Art and another at Waddesdon Manor, both of which are stamped with the C couronné poinçon, formed the basis of Henry Hawley's pioneering examination of this ébéniste's work (The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum, pp. 203-259).
It is likely that Latz produced much of his furniture for the German market, and a large proportion of his best works are to be found in Berlin and Dresden. Both Frederick II of Prussia and Augustus III, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, ordered much furniture from Paris and particularly from Latz. These include clock nos. 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18 and 19 listed by Hawley (ibid.). The inventory after the death of Latz lists Monsieur Petit, commissionnaire du Roy de Prusse as one of his creditors. This was probably Mathieu-François Petit and may relate to an unfinished clock intended for the King of Prussia and valued at 1450 livres. He also owed 2127 livres to Monsieur Leleux, agens du Roys de Prusse, who was probably in fact agent to the Elector of Saxony. A contre-partie Boulle marquetry clock by Latz at Schloss Charlottenburg was exhibited 'Friedrich der Grosse: Sammler und Mäzen', Munich, 1992-3 (Exhibition Catalogue, no. 182). Two further clocks and pedestals executed by Latz for the German market since Hawley's study in 1970 have come to light: a clock by Latz, probably previously at Schloss Moritzburg, was sold Sotheby's New York, 17 November 1984, lot 175; and another clock and pedestal by Latz formerly in the collection of the Kings of Saxony at the Dresden Residenz and subsequently belonging to the Seligmann family, with closely related design to the marquetry panel on the front of the pedestal (also related to no. 11 in Hawley's study, op. cit.) was sold Sotheby's Monaco, 14-15 June 1982, lot 57.