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Lot Essay
Jean-François Deninger, dit Denière, 1774-1866.
This magnificent Urania clock was executed by the bronzier Denière between 1805-11, almost certainly to designs by Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine. A watercolour for a closely related Pendule égyptienne à sujets featured as Plate VIII in their engraved pattern-book Recueil de Décorations Intérieures, published in 1801. The design displays the distinctive decorative motif of a Sacrificial Offering by two Egyptian Priestesses to Jupiter-Amon; the fact that this motif reappears on this clock would point to the involvement of Percier and Fontaine in the design.
Clocks of this basic model were supplied by Denière to the château de Fontainebleau and to the Grand Trianon at Versailles. Carlos IV, King of Spain also admired the Urania model - having two variants, one partially of Sèvres biscuit porcelain, both of which display the same plinth with an allegory of the Nile which was invented by the sculptor Taunay in 1806 (illustrated in J. Ramon Colon de Carvajal, Catalogo de Relojes del Patrimonio Nacional, Madrid, 1987, pp. 165 and 283). Interestingly, Denière also supplied Carlos IV with a closely related clock with a Sèvres porcelain figure. Another example is recorded among the works of art which Napoleon's brother Joseph took with him to exile in America, described in the 1847 sale of his collection as 'a magnificent bronze Urania... with sphere and timepiece' and stated as having been in the Palais de Luxembourg. The extremely unusual feature of having blued-steel pull-out carrying rods to the plinth base can also be seen on a clock in the Royal Collection, which was presumably acquired by George, Prince of Wales, later King George IV, for Carlton House.
Denière entered into partnership with François Mathelin in 1797 and his prosperous atelier had over 200 workers during the Empire period. Along with Pierre-Philippe Thomire, Deniere was one of the leading architects of the goût Égyptien. A further clock by Denière, originally in the collection of the 4th Marquis of Hertford at the château de Bagatelle and possibly ordered directly from Denière, was sold from the Wildenstein Collection in 1979 and subsequently sold from the Collection of Akram Ojjeh, Monaco, 11 December 1999, lot 10.
This magnificent Urania clock was executed by the bronzier Denière between 1805-11, almost certainly to designs by Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine. A watercolour for a closely related Pendule égyptienne à sujets featured as Plate VIII in their engraved pattern-book Recueil de Décorations Intérieures, published in 1801. The design displays the distinctive decorative motif of a Sacrificial Offering by two Egyptian Priestesses to Jupiter-Amon; the fact that this motif reappears on this clock would point to the involvement of Percier and Fontaine in the design.
Clocks of this basic model were supplied by Denière to the château de Fontainebleau and to the Grand Trianon at Versailles. Carlos IV, King of Spain also admired the Urania model - having two variants, one partially of Sèvres biscuit porcelain, both of which display the same plinth with an allegory of the Nile which was invented by the sculptor Taunay in 1806 (illustrated in J. Ramon Colon de Carvajal, Catalogo de Relojes del Patrimonio Nacional, Madrid, 1987, pp. 165 and 283). Interestingly, Denière also supplied Carlos IV with a closely related clock with a Sèvres porcelain figure. Another example is recorded among the works of art which Napoleon's brother Joseph took with him to exile in America, described in the 1847 sale of his collection as 'a magnificent bronze Urania... with sphere and timepiece' and stated as having been in the Palais de Luxembourg. The extremely unusual feature of having blued-steel pull-out carrying rods to the plinth base can also be seen on a clock in the Royal Collection, which was presumably acquired by George, Prince of Wales, later King George IV, for Carlton House.
Denière entered into partnership with François Mathelin in 1797 and his prosperous atelier had over 200 workers during the Empire period. Along with Pierre-Philippe Thomire, Deniere was one of the leading architects of the goût Égyptien. A further clock by Denière, originally in the collection of the 4th Marquis of Hertford at the château de Bagatelle and possibly ordered directly from Denière, was sold from the Wildenstein Collection in 1979 and subsequently sold from the Collection of Akram Ojjeh, Monaco, 11 December 1999, lot 10.