Pierre-Philippe Barat

Pierre-Philippe Barat may be considered one of the most important Parisian clockmakers of the reign of Louis XV. Mentioned as an apprentice of Nicolas Brodon in 1730, he became a master on May 5, 1742 and opened a workshop in the Marché Neuf. He is later cited in the Place Dauphine toward the mid 18th century. He married the daughter of a master clockmaker and quickly gained renown, becoming a “Garde-visiteur” of the guild from 1757 to 1759 and from 1764 to 1766. He retired in 1770 and sold his business to clockmaker Jean Michel for the sum of 8943 livres. During the second half of the 18th century and the early years of the following century, several of his clocks were cited in the inventories of well-known collectors of the day: several pieces were briefly described in the collection of Prosecutor Guy Agier in 1773; in the collection of Rosalie Nettine, the widow of banker Jean-Joseph de Laborde; and in the collection of François-Camille, Prince of Lorraine in 1788.