search icon
Meyer  -  Rémond

Rare Matte Gilt Bronze œil de bœuf cartel d’alcôve

Cartel_049-04_HD_WEB

The dial signed “Meyer à Paris” for clockmaker François Meyer

Case attributed to François Rémond

Paris, Louis XVI period, circa 1785

Height43 cm Width26 cm Depth11 cm

The circular enamel dial, signed “Meyer à paris”, indicates the Roman numeral hours and the Arabic numeral fifteen-minute intervals by means of two chased and pierced gilt bronze hands. The movement, with pull-cord repeating, is housed in a magnificent round matte gilt œil-de-bœuf case that is very finely chased. The bezel is made up of a leaf and dart frieze with a matted border; the outer edge of the case is highlighted by a cord frieze. At the top of the clock is surmounted by two kissing doves that are standing among clouds, an allegory of Love. The clock may be hung by means of a gilt bronze ribbon attached to a roundel.

The exceptionally sober neoclassical design of this very fine cartel, as well as the exceptional quality of its gilding and chasing, allow it to be attributed to François Rémond, one of the most talented Parisian bronze casters of the period. Among the very small number of comparable œil-de-bœuf cartels known today one example, whose dial is signed “Charles Leroy”, is suspended from ribbons, and features a lower portion adorned with acanthus leaves and seeds. It is illustrated in G. and A. Wannenes, Les plus belles pendules françaises, de Louis XIV à l’Empire, Editions Polistampa, Florence, 2013, p. 229. A second clock, decorated with martial attributes and a couple of doves, is illustrated in Tardy, La pendule française des origines à nos jours, 2ème Partie: Du Louis XVI à nos jours, Paris, 1974, p.313.

François Rémond (circa 1747 - 1812)

Along with Pierre Gouthière, he was one of the most important Parisian chaser-gilders of the last third of the 18th century. He began his apprenticeship in 1763 and became a master chaser-gilder in 1774. His great talent quickly won him a wealthy clientele, including certain members of the Court. Through the marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre, François Rémond was involved in furnishing the homes of most of the important collectors of the late 18th century, supplying them with exceptional clock cases, firedogs, and candelabra. These elegant and innovative pieces greatly contributed to his fame.



François Meyer

François Meyer was one of the most talented Parisian clockmakers of his time. In 1776, after becoming a master, he opened a workshop in the Place du Palais Royal from 1778 to 1783, and then in the Quai de Conti in 1789. He rapidly gained renown among Parisian connoisseurs of luxury horology. In the final decades of the 18th century and the early decades of the following century, some of his clocks are mentioned as being in the homes of important Parisian collectors. One might cite the clocks that are listed in the posthumous inventory of Philippe-Laurent Joubert, treasurer of the Estates of Languedoc, that of the widow of Joseph-Edouard, Viscount Walsh, that of Charles-Reynard-Laure-Félix de Choiseul-Praslin, Duke de Praslin, that of Jean-Jacques Poupart, Louis XVI’s confessor, that of General Gabriel-Emmanuel de Maulde and that of the widow of Farmer General Denis-Joseph Lalive d’Epinay.