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    Sale 6185

    Important European Furniture

    London

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    16 December 1999

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    • A LOUIS XIV ORMOLU-MOUNTED, PE
    Lot 57

    A LOUIS XIV ORMOLU-MOUNTED, PEWTER AND BRASS-INLAID TORTOISESHELL AND EBONY BOULLE PENDULE

    BY GAUDRON

    Price realised

    GBP 7,475

    Estimate

    GBP 2,500 - GBP 4,000

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    A LOUIS XIV ORMOLU-MOUNTED, PEWTER AND BRASS-INLAID TORTOISESHELL AND EBONY BOULLE PENDULE
    By Gaudron
    Profusely inlaid overall with scrolling foliage, the later black velvet-covered dial with an applied chapter ring with white enamel Roman chapters and engraved outer minute ring, pierced blued steel hands, a bas-relief depicts Cupid indicating a planetary sphere, the Chronos figure below reclining on a tablet supported on two sphinxes, the movement signed 'Gaudron A Paris', the backplate with four baluster pillars, later pin-wheel escapement with pendulum regulation bar above, countwheel strike on a bell housed in the gently domed top, surmounted by the seated figure of Chronos surrounded by flaming urns, with ripple moulded and pierced baluster frieze above a glazed arched door with moulded edge and flanked by Corinthian pilasters, centred by a shaped apron mount, on foliate-wreathed bun feet, the back door with printed label 'HOHE WARTE 0551 /' inscribed in ink 'V', with associated bracket
    The clock:
    28 in. (72 cm.) high; 15 in. (38 cm.) wide; 6 in. (15 cm.) deep
    The bracket:
    12 in. (31 cm.) high; 16 in. (41 cm.) wide; 8 in. (20 cm.) deep

    Provenance

    Hohe Warte, the Rothschild hunting lodge outside Vienna.
    Rothschild inv. no. AR1061.

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    Literature and exhibited

    Exhibited

    The City of Vienna Uhren Museum from 1947 until July 1999.


    Lot Essay

    The signature is probably either that of Antoine Gaudron, recorded at Rue Dauphine 'A La Perle', 1695-1707, or Pierre Gaudron, matre horloger in 1695 and horloger to the duc d'Orlans.
    A related clock with movement by Gaudron, its case attributed to Andr-Charles Boulle, is in the J. Paul Getty Museum (illustrated in C. Bremer-David, Decorative Arts, an Illustrated Summary Catalogue of the Collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1993, p. 83, cat. 127.

    With its rich Corinthian triumphal-arched 'tabernacle' case, this richly decorated clock features a bas-relief celebrating 'Love's Triumph', with Cupid stealing away from Chronos (Time).





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