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Lot Essay
The Lenoir dynasty of horlogers is first recorded in the late 17th Century and flourished well into the 19th Century. The movement of this clock was probably made by Pierre Etienne Le Noir, who was elected maître in 1717 and worked with his father, another Etienne, in his atelier in the quai des Orfèvres in 1743.
A mantel clock signed by Robert Osmond of identical design, but lacking the foliate scrolling cover of the base, was sold at Ader, Paris, 2 December 1968 (H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, p. 542, fig. 1). The fondeur-doreur Robert Osmond (d. 1789) became maître in 1746 and acquired a workshop in the rue des Canettes, before moving to larger premises in the rue Macon in 1761 .
This clock was probably designed between 1755 and 1760 when Osmond's oeuvre became more naturalistic, turning away from the baroque-inspired rococo towards the first stirrings of the emerging gôut grec. Osmond also varied the finials on this model and occasionally added a Chinese figure or children to the top. A further closely related clock originally owned by the duc de Penthièvre was sold in the Akram Ojjeh sale at Sotheby's Monaco, 25 June 1979, lot 69.
A mantel clock signed by Robert Osmond of identical design, but lacking the foliate scrolling cover of the base, was sold at Ader, Paris, 2 December 1968 (H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, p. 542, fig. 1). The fondeur-doreur Robert Osmond (d. 1789) became maître in 1746 and acquired a workshop in the rue des Canettes, before moving to larger premises in the rue Macon in 1761 .
This clock was probably designed between 1755 and 1760 when Osmond's oeuvre became more naturalistic, turning away from the baroque-inspired rococo towards the first stirrings of the emerging gôut grec. Osmond also varied the finials on this model and occasionally added a Chinese figure or children to the top. A further closely related clock originally owned by the duc de Penthièvre was sold in the Akram Ojjeh sale at Sotheby's Monaco, 25 June 1979, lot 69.