.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
With its bold and organic rocaille design incorporating striking aquatic elements such as dolphins, shells and bull-rushes, this superb clock of grand proportion can be confidently attributed to the bronzier Jean-Joseph Saint-Germain. Indeed, an identical clock, with a dial signed by Le Roy, and formerly part of the collection Anna Thomson Dodge is stamped ‘St.Germain’ to the back (sold at Sotheby’s, London, 24 June 1971, lot 36). Another clock of the same model, with a dial signed ‘Chevreau’, is illustrated in H. Ottomeyer/P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, vol. I, 1986, p. 128, fig. 2.8.16.
Elected as a maître-fondeur on 15 July 1748, Saint-Germain had the privilege of working as an ouvrier libre - enabling him to act both as an ébéniste and bronzier. He frequently supplied clock cases cast with animal forms and allegorical figures to the leading clockmakers of Paris, including the le Roy workshops, Etienne Lenoir and Jean-Philippe Gosselin.
Elected as a maître-fondeur on 15 July 1748, Saint-Germain had the privilege of working as an ouvrier libre - enabling him to act both as an ébéniste and bronzier. He frequently supplied clock cases cast with animal forms and allegorical figures to the leading clockmakers of Paris, including the le Roy workshops, Etienne Lenoir and Jean-Philippe Gosselin.