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Lot Essay
Combining French craftsmanship and American iconography, this mantle clock illustrates the close bonds between the two nations established during the eighteenth century. With French support of the Revolutionary War and the subsequent pursuit of Republican ideals in both countries, clocks of this model celebrate the American hero of these events and his enduring appeal over fifteen years after his death. Such reverence for George Washington was also a marketing opportunity and a recently discovered letter from 1815 reveals the maker’s intentions to produce a series of clocks in two sizes with “the statue of the great Washington.” The maker was the clockmaker/ bronzier Jacques Nicolas Pierre François Dubuc, who from 1806 to 1817 is listed at Rue Michel-le-Comte, the street name inscribed on the dial of the clock offered here. Addressed to a Baltimore gentleman, Dubuc’s 1815 letter provides a start date for the production of these clocks and as evidenced by advertisements in American newspapers, they appear to have been made up until the time of the financial crisis of 1819 (Lara Pascali, “Recent Discoveries,” at https://www.winterthur.org/?p=228, accessed November 20, 2015; Jonathan Snellenburg, “George Washington in Bronze: A Survey of the Memorial Clocks,” Antiques & Fine Art (2001), accessed online).
Over thirty examples survive today and the example offered here illustrates one of the larger models standing at almost 20 inches high. Like most of this size, the banner below the dial accurately quotes from General Henry Lee’s oration at the funeral of Washington and reads WASHINGTON/ First in WAR, First in PEACE/ First in the HEARTS of his COUNTRYMEN. Furthermore, as described by Jonathan Snellenburg, the frieze of the base depicts:
Washington relinquishing his sword (or, perhaps, receiving his sword). The meaning of the scene has been interpreted in several ways, but is most likely a reference to the Roman citizen-soldier Cincinnatus, to whom Washington was often compared. Applied to the side of the plinth is a trophy of arms, composed of a bow with arrows, a club, and a feathered headdress, all attributes of the personification of America. The supplemental decoration on the case consists of typical neoclassical motifs. Stylized palm fronds flank the frieze on either side. Intertwined laurel wreaths, the victor’s crown, ornament the ends of the base.
In addition to the differences in size, the surviving clocks feature one of two models of Washington and eagles with either up- or down-turned wings. While all the figures feature the pose taken from Jonathan Trumbull’s 1792 painting, General George Washington at Trenton, the likeness of his head shows either “the younger” Washington as he appeared in 1780 or a more “mature” version from 1789. The clock offered here represents the latter and was based on Edward Savage’s 1789 portrait of Washington, which was engraved by the artist and widely available in Europe (fig. 1) (Snellenburg, op. cit.). Most often appearing alongside eagles with downturned wings, the “mature” likeness is the rarer of the two. Of the large-size examples published, only four other examples have been found (Sotheby’s, New York, The Stanley Paul Sax Collection, 16-17 January 1997, lot 429; Skinner's, 7 November 2004, lot 126; Skinner’s, 4 June 2006, lot 269; an example in the collections of The Classical American Homes Preservation Trust, see https://classicalamericanhomes.org/pop-quiz-2020/, accessed November 20, 2015). For more on the group and variations between the small and large models, see Christie’s New York, 22 September 2014, lots 73 and 87. Little is known of the history of this clock, but it has been in the present family in South America for more than sixty years and according to family tradition, was given as collateral for a debt that was never repaid.
Over thirty examples survive today and the example offered here illustrates one of the larger models standing at almost 20 inches high. Like most of this size, the banner below the dial accurately quotes from General Henry Lee’s oration at the funeral of Washington and reads WASHINGTON/ First in WAR, First in PEACE/ First in the HEARTS of his COUNTRYMEN. Furthermore, as described by Jonathan Snellenburg, the frieze of the base depicts:
Washington relinquishing his sword (or, perhaps, receiving his sword). The meaning of the scene has been interpreted in several ways, but is most likely a reference to the Roman citizen-soldier Cincinnatus, to whom Washington was often compared. Applied to the side of the plinth is a trophy of arms, composed of a bow with arrows, a club, and a feathered headdress, all attributes of the personification of America. The supplemental decoration on the case consists of typical neoclassical motifs. Stylized palm fronds flank the frieze on either side. Intertwined laurel wreaths, the victor’s crown, ornament the ends of the base.
In addition to the differences in size, the surviving clocks feature one of two models of Washington and eagles with either up- or down-turned wings. While all the figures feature the pose taken from Jonathan Trumbull’s 1792 painting, General George Washington at Trenton, the likeness of his head shows either “the younger” Washington as he appeared in 1780 or a more “mature” version from 1789. The clock offered here represents the latter and was based on Edward Savage’s 1789 portrait of Washington, which was engraved by the artist and widely available in Europe (fig. 1) (Snellenburg, op. cit.). Most often appearing alongside eagles with downturned wings, the “mature” likeness is the rarer of the two. Of the large-size examples published, only four other examples have been found (Sotheby’s, New York, The Stanley Paul Sax Collection, 16-17 January 1997, lot 429; Skinner's, 7 November 2004, lot 126; Skinner’s, 4 June 2006, lot 269; an example in the collections of The Classical American Homes Preservation Trust, see https://classicalamericanhomes.org/pop-quiz-2020/, accessed November 20, 2015). For more on the group and variations between the small and large models, see Christie’s New York, 22 September 2014, lots 73 and 87. Little is known of the history of this clock, but it has been in the present family in South America for more than sixty years and according to family tradition, was given as collateral for a debt that was never repaid.