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Lot Essay
This impressive Boulle clock and pedestal is almost certainly the one listed in the celebrated collection of Quintin Craufurd’s 1819 inventory of his hôtel particulier, rue d’Anjou, Paris: ‘un bas d’armoire servant de pied, fond écaille en incrustations d’ornemen en cuivre sur la face et les cotés, et autres ornemens dont un plaqué d’armoiries. Le dit meuble surmonté d’une pendule mouvement de Gilbert à paris …’.
His sale catalogue, dated November 1820, gives a more precise description of the clock, lot 458: ‘Une pendule à sonnerie, movement de Gilbert, à Paris, dans sa boite en marquetrie, ouvrage de Boule, richement décorée de figures et autres ornemens en bronze doré d’or moulu; sur son socle en forme de console, fond écaille à dessin d’ornemens en cuivre. Ladite pendule placée sur un riche pied formant bas d’armoire, aussi en marquetrie, par Boule, fond écaille à dessin d’arabesque incrustée de cuivre. Cette pièce, du plus grand travail, porte 85 pouces de haut.’
Born in Scotland, Quintin Craufurd (1743-1819) made his fortune in Manilla, in the East India Company, before returning to Europe in circa 1780 when he settled in Paris with his lover, the ballet dancer Eléonore Franchi, named ‘la belle Sullivan’. Craufurd was on intimate terms with the French court, especially with Marie Antoinette, and was one of those who arranged the flight to Varennes during the French Revolution. He escaped to Brussels and, as an émigré his possessions in Paris were confiscated. An inventory of his possessions listed a ‘Boulle clock’ by Gilbert, which probably refers to the present piece suggesting it was undoubtedly a pre-Revolution acquisition. The Peace of Amiens in 1802 allowed him to return to Paris; during the Restauration, his collection was restituted, and subsequently enriched with important Old Masters paintings and furniture, especially pieces in ‘marquetry Boulle’, such as the pair of side-cabinets sold from the Castellane collection, Christie’s, Paris, 7 March 2017, lot 132.
His sale catalogue, dated November 1820, gives a more precise description of the clock, lot 458: ‘Une pendule à sonnerie, movement de Gilbert, à Paris, dans sa boite en marquetrie, ouvrage de Boule, richement décorée de figures et autres ornemens en bronze doré d’or moulu; sur son socle en forme de console, fond écaille à dessin d’ornemens en cuivre. Ladite pendule placée sur un riche pied formant bas d’armoire, aussi en marquetrie, par Boule, fond écaille à dessin d’arabesque incrustée de cuivre. Cette pièce, du plus grand travail, porte 85 pouces de haut.’
Born in Scotland, Quintin Craufurd (1743-1819) made his fortune in Manilla, in the East India Company, before returning to Europe in circa 1780 when he settled in Paris with his lover, the ballet dancer Eléonore Franchi, named ‘la belle Sullivan’. Craufurd was on intimate terms with the French court, especially with Marie Antoinette, and was one of those who arranged the flight to Varennes during the French Revolution. He escaped to Brussels and, as an émigré his possessions in Paris were confiscated. An inventory of his possessions listed a ‘Boulle clock’ by Gilbert, which probably refers to the present piece suggesting it was undoubtedly a pre-Revolution acquisition. The Peace of Amiens in 1802 allowed him to return to Paris; during the Restauration, his collection was restituted, and subsequently enriched with important Old Masters paintings and furniture, especially pieces in ‘marquetry Boulle’, such as the pair of side-cabinets sold from the Castellane collection, Christie’s, Paris, 7 March 2017, lot 132.