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Lot Essay
A long-case clock, or régulateur, of this model was displayed by Émmanuel Zwiener at the Paris Exposition universelle in 1889 where it was presumably seen by Paul Seidel, Lord Chamberlain to Kaiser Wilhelm II, who subsequently purchased it for the Imperial household. The Kaiser had intended to gift it as a Christmas present but it did not arrive in time, and instead it was placed in the state rooms of the guest apartments at the Neues Palais, Potsdam, Germany.
The clock was photographed at the Neues Palais in 1889 atop a base specially designed for it by Carl Heinrich Preetz. It is interesting to note also that the entablature with seated figure of cupid is not original to the composition, but a further embellishment added at the request of the Imperial court at a cost of 3440 Reichsmarks (Meiner, op. cit., p. 34).
At the 1889 Paris Exhibition Émmanuel Zwiener won a gold medal for a jewel cabinet, designed with the sculptor Léon Messagé and like the present clock in the rococo style. The jewel cabinet was bought by the Russian Imperial court and displayed at the Gatchina Palace; it sold at Christie’s, London, 17 March 2011, lot 409, £623,650. It is fascinating to observe therefore that the present clock was bought by Kaiser Wilhelm II whilst the jewel cabinet entered the Imperial Russian collection, years before the First World War and collapse of both Empires.
With the abdication and exile of Wilhelm II in 1918, some quantities furniture were taken to Huis Doorn, in the Netherlands while the clock was given to his son Prince Oskar of Prussia (d.1958) where it is recorded in 1925. Thereafter it entered the collection of Hélène de Zuylen de Nyevelt de Haar (née de Rothschild, d. 1947) for De Haar Castle, Netherlands and, following confiscation in WWII, was miraculously recovered for the family in 1946.
Emmanuel Zwiener was born in Herdon, Germany in 1849, and had a workshop at 12 Rue de la Roquette, Paris, from 1875 until 1895 when he sold it to Jean-Henri Jansen for 10,000 francs. Emmanuel continued to work with Jansen on a few projects and with his brother Julius who was an established cabinetmaker in Berlin. In 1894 Julius apparently bought numerous designs and sketches for furniture from Paris to Berlin and Julius’ furniture is stylistically so similar that and it is often misattributed as the work of Emmanuel in Paris. Closely akin to Emmanuel’s work is an extensive neo-rococo bedroom suite made by Julius for Wilhelm II, which was shown at the 1900 Paris Exposition universelle and thereafter installed at the Berliner Schloss (sold Sotheby’s, New York, 29 June 1989, lots 270-274).
The clock was photographed at the Neues Palais in 1889 atop a base specially designed for it by Carl Heinrich Preetz. It is interesting to note also that the entablature with seated figure of cupid is not original to the composition, but a further embellishment added at the request of the Imperial court at a cost of 3440 Reichsmarks (Meiner, op. cit., p. 34).
At the 1889 Paris Exhibition Émmanuel Zwiener won a gold medal for a jewel cabinet, designed with the sculptor Léon Messagé and like the present clock in the rococo style. The jewel cabinet was bought by the Russian Imperial court and displayed at the Gatchina Palace; it sold at Christie’s, London, 17 March 2011, lot 409, £623,650. It is fascinating to observe therefore that the present clock was bought by Kaiser Wilhelm II whilst the jewel cabinet entered the Imperial Russian collection, years before the First World War and collapse of both Empires.
With the abdication and exile of Wilhelm II in 1918, some quantities furniture were taken to Huis Doorn, in the Netherlands while the clock was given to his son Prince Oskar of Prussia (d.1958) where it is recorded in 1925. Thereafter it entered the collection of Hélène de Zuylen de Nyevelt de Haar (née de Rothschild, d. 1947) for De Haar Castle, Netherlands and, following confiscation in WWII, was miraculously recovered for the family in 1946.
Emmanuel Zwiener was born in Herdon, Germany in 1849, and had a workshop at 12 Rue de la Roquette, Paris, from 1875 until 1895 when he sold it to Jean-Henri Jansen for 10,000 francs. Emmanuel continued to work with Jansen on a few projects and with his brother Julius who was an established cabinetmaker in Berlin. In 1894 Julius apparently bought numerous designs and sketches for furniture from Paris to Berlin and Julius’ furniture is stylistically so similar that and it is often misattributed as the work of Emmanuel in Paris. Closely akin to Emmanuel’s work is an extensive neo-rococo bedroom suite made by Julius for Wilhelm II, which was shown at the 1900 Paris Exposition universelle and thereafter installed at the Berliner Schloss (sold Sotheby’s, New York, 29 June 1989, lots 270-274).