A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU, ENAMEL AND WHITE MARBLE MONTH-GOING ASTRONOMICAL URN CLOCK

MATHIEU FECIT; THE DIAL BY JOSEPH COTEAU, PARIS, SIGNED AND DATED 1774

Details

A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU, ENAMEL AND WHITE MARBLE MONTH-GOING ASTRONOMICAL URN CLOCK
mathieu fecit; the dial by joseph coteau, paris, signed and dated 1774
The urn carrying two revolving chapter rings with Roman hour and Arabic minute white enamel chapter disks indicated to by means of a brilliant-set star [for the minutes] and the upward curled tail of a salamander [for the hours], the chapter rings revolving by means of an indirect bevel gear system to the going barrel movement below with anchor escapement, (lacking crutchpiece), countwheel strike on bell within the base, the urn with a gadrooned and berried laurel top and handles festooned with fruit-laden leafy swags, the fluted sconce base supported on a rectangular pedestal with outset fluted pilasters and rams' heads to the sides draped with ribbon-tied swags of berried laurels, the reverse with an ormolu door with a rosette spring-catch release, the obverse set with a circular calendar disc signed Mathieu Fecit beneath a rolling moon phase calibrated above with its age (1 to 29½), outer concentric rings for the day and month with their relevant number of days, the outer zodiac ring painted in oval gilt-framed roundels interrupted by transluscent green enamel jewelling, the dial signed on the reverse Coteau, Paris 1774, the movement backplate further engraved C. Mathieu APARIS, the white marble base with outset angles and on ormolu bun feet; purpose made velvet-lined ebonized wood base

Literature

Winthrop Edey, French Clocks, New York pp. 66-69, figs 32-34.

Lot Essay

An identical clock to the present example was sold, Christie's London, Property of the late George Field Esq., June 12, 1893, Lot 80 for 199gns. 10s. to Wertheimer and then passed into the Greenberg Collection, New York. That particular clock is illustrated in French Clocks op. cit.. The calendar dials of these two clocks are both virtually identical, the present example is signed and dated by Joseph Coteau, Paris 1774 and is a very fine example of what was the best enamelling in the world.