Chapuy

The signature “Chapuy rue Vivienne n°4”, which is also spelled “Chapuis”, is that of a Parisian clockmaker who was active during the early years of the 19th century. Tardy mentions a workshop in the rue Vivienne in 1810, which means he almost certainly knew his colleague Claude Galle, who was located in the same street, number 9, during the same period (see Tardy, Dictionnaire des horlogers français, Paris, 1971, p.121). Except for the location of his workshop, little is known about the career of this artisan, who seems to have stopped working after the fall of Napoleon. During the early decades of the 19th century a clock bearing the signature “Chapuis”, which was probably made by the same horologist, was described in the probate inventory of Joséphine-Augustine-Félicité Raffard de Marcilly, who at the time was married to Etienne-Augustin De Wailly, a famous Parisian bookseller, writer, and poet.