RECONSTRUCTED IN THE LATE 18TH CENTURY USING A LOUIS XIV REGULATEUR OF CIRCA 1710-20, ALTERED WITH THE ADDITION OF A THERMOMETER IN 1838, THE MOVEMENT BY PIERRE DU CORAY, PARIS

The Bérainesque classical sphinxes that form the supports on this clock feature on a Boulle pedestal clock, with movement by Jacques Thuret, with Apollo mask cresting and sphinx supports formerly in the collection of Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, duc de Dino and now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Rogers Fund, 1958 (58.53); J. Parker, 'A Royal French Clock', Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. 18, no. 6, February 1960, pp. 193-201). Elements of the design of this régulateur - in particular the scrolled pelta-shaped section - are shared with a drawing in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. Formerly attributed to Oppenordt but more recently to Boulle himself (H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 44, fig. 1.4.20), this drawing served as the prototype for the armoire with régulateur in the Wallace Collection (P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Furniture II, London, 1996, p. 174 (F429). The popularity of the sphinx in fashionable French circles at the time is illustrated by the 'Staircase of the Sphinxes' at Fontainebleau and the 'Parterre of the Dauphine' with its sphinxes at Versailles. A similar clock in the Royal Collection, with a later movement by the English clockmaker Vulliamy, stands in the state apartments at Windsor Castle, and one is in the Collection of the Duke of Marlborough at Blenheim Palace.

PIERRE DU CORAY
The son of a merchant, Pierre du Coray (c.1660 - 1705) was married to Anne Leclère widow of Noël Lhéritier, master clockmaker. He was appointed Marchand Horologer Privilégié du Roi on 19 May 1698 following the resignation of Antoine Dumerque and replaced by Charles le Bon on 9 May 1707. He was established at Marché Neuf (1700) and Pont Notre-Dame (1705).