A LATE LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED TULIPWOOD AND AMARANTH REGULATEUR DE PARQUET
A LATE LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED TULIPWOOD AND AMARANTH REGULATEUR DE PARQUET

THE MOVEMENT BY JEAN-ANDRE OR JEAN-BAPTISTE LEPAUTE, THE CASE BY NICOLAS PETIT, CIRCA 1770

Details
A LATE LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED TULIPWOOD AND AMARANTH REGULATEUR DE PARQUET
THE MOVEMENT BY JEAN-ANDRE OR JEAN-BAPTISTE LEPAUTE, THE CASE BY NICOLAS PETIT, CIRCA 1770
CASE: with flambeau urn finial above scroll-leaf mount to the shaped hood, acanthus moulded frame to shaped glazed trunk door, the plinth centred with sunburst and mask mount above laurel and berry swag, stamped 'N. PETIT' DIAL: the white enamel dial signed 'Lepaute', pierced and engraved ormolu main hands, blued steel seconds hand, formerly with siderial time hand MOVEMENT: substantial rectangular plates joined by four rear pinned pillars, pinwheel escapement (pallets lacking), formerly with equation of time work, endless rope wind system to backboard; substantial nine rod gridiron pendulum, brass weight
90 in. (229 cm.) high; 24 in. (61 cm.) wide; 11½ in. (29 cm.) deep

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Victoria von Westenholz

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Lot Essay

Nicolas Petit, maître in 1761.

This régulateur numbers among a prestigious series of closely related examples by Nicolas Petit (1732-1791). Here, as on most of these examples, Petit collaborated with Lepaute, referring to both Jean-André Lepaute (1720-1787), clockmaker to Louis XVI, and his brother, Jean-Baptiste (1727-1802), successor to the royal appointment. Petit and Lepaute evolved the model to reflect nuances in fashion, subtly altering mounts and elongating the case into the bulbous lyre shape seen here. Early examples from the 1760s are fronted by a solid door with an ormolu-framed glazed cartouche revealing the pendulum balancier. Of elegant Transitional style, the present lot retains the scrolled acanthus and mask mounts which feature to earlier examples, but the plainer glazed door showing the whole pendulum suggests a stronger neoclassical influence and places it later in the series. Another, also with a fully glazed door, sold Christie's Paris, 13 April 2010, lot 307. For a comparison of the variant models see A. Droguet, Nicolas Petit. 1732-1791., Paris, 2001, pp. 68-72.

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