AFTER THE BRÉCOURT MODEL, LAST QUARTER OF THE 18TH CENTURY

Details

LOUIS XVI DOLPHIN CLOCK
AFTER THE BRÉCOURT MODEL, LAST QUARTER OF THE 18TH CENTURY
In chased and gilt bronze and white marble, the white enamelled dial signed ‘A PARIS’ indicating the hours and minutes, flanked by dolphins from which water jets spring, applied with large acanthus leaves and oak leaves joined by a ribbon knot on a fluted pedestal, the square base with interlacing friezes on turret feet
H. 46 cm (18 in.); 24 in. (9 ¹/₂ in.); D. 16 cm (6 ¹/₂ in.)

Literature

Comparative bibliography:
H. Ottomeyer and P. Proeschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, Vol. I, p. 196, Fig. 3.13.3.
Tardy, La pendule française dans le monde, 2e partie, Paris, 1987, p. 41.
P. Kjellberg, Encyclopédie de la pendule française, 1997, Paris, p. 214, Fig. A.
E. Niehüser, French bronze clocks, Atglen, 1999, p. 263, Ref. 1323.

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Lot Essay

The model of this clock is illustrated in the Recueil de desseins. Models de pendules, années 1755-1780, plate 100 under the mention: Vaze Dauphine et Jet d'Eau. Marble base.

This model was very popular and reproduced throughout the late 18th century. In fact, the 1787 inventory of all the clocks in Louis XVI's Versailles flat mentions one that was on display in his baths cabinet. It was notably sold at Christie's in London on 4 July 2013, lot 22.A similar clock is in the Château de la Fasanerie in Germany. Another by Le Paute de Belle Fontaine is in the Château de Fontainebleau.According to Tardy, this clock symbolises the abduction of Dionysus-Bacchus, who was transformed into a lion in order to drive the sailors into the sea, where they turned into dolphins.