search icon
Manière  -  Boizot  -  Rémond

Important Green Marble and Finely Chased Patinated and Gilt Bronze Mantel Clock with Matte and Burnished Finishing

« Seated Caryatids »

Pendule_513-06_HD_WEB

Dial signed “Manière à Paris” by clockmaker Charles-Guillaume Hautemanière

Design attributed to sculptor of the King Louis-Simon Boizot

Case attributed to bronze-caster François Rémond

Made under the supervision of the Maison Daguerre & Lignereux

Paris, late Louis XVI period, circa 1790

Height62.5 cm Width60.3 cm Depth18.5 cm

Bibliography :

Christian Baulez, “Les bronziers Gouthière, Thomire et Rémond”, in Louis-Simon Boizot (1743-1809), Sculpteur du roi et directeur de l’atelier de sculpture à la Manufacture de Sèvres, Musée Lambinet, Versailles, 2001-2002.

The enamel dial, signed “Manière à Paris”, indicates the Roman numeral hours and Arabic numeral fifteen-minute intervals by means of two pierced gilt hands. The hour and half-hour striking movement is housed in an architectural case with an arched cornice that is adorned with stylized friezes. The clock is surmounted by a putto seated on clouds who is placing his index finger in front of his mouth – an allegory of Silence. The façade and the sides are adorned with reserves bearing cartouches decorated with finely chased thunderbolts in relief. The clock is supported by two magnificent female figures of patinated bronze. They are dressed in classical robes, with a fringed gilt cloth draped over their shoulders. The figures are seated on a terrace that is decorated with a frieze of putti musicians among the clouds and a leaf frieze that is itself supported by a quadrangular base of green marble adorned with a frieze of alternating stylized palmettes and flowers with interlacing C-scrolls. The clock stands on four gilt bronze feet that are embellished with knurled bands.

This clock is the result of an exceptional conjunction of the decorative and artistic talents in Paris during the late 18th century. The model was derived from a type of clocks featuring standing female figures and columns, known as “the large pediment” type, which was created in the early 1790s by chaser-gilder François Rémond (circa 1747-1812) at the request of the marchands-merciers Dominique Daguerre and Martin-Eloi Lignereux. The model was so successful that several years later they decided to create a variation of it, asking a sculptor – probably Louis-Simon Boizot, sculptor to the king – to create the female figures, depicting them in a seated position.

The new version became a great esthetic and artistic success, due to its perfectly balanced composition and exceptional workmanship (bronze work, marble, enamel). Nevertheless, times were difficult and there were few customers for such extraordinary pieces. While we do not know how many examples were produced, several such clocks are known today. Among them one identical clock, whose base is made of white Carrara marble, was formerly in the collection of Count Henri de Beaumont (1923-2005); it stood in the drawing room of his home in Rome (Archives of the La Pendulerie Galerie, Paris). A second clock with a red griotte marble base, was formerly in the collection of Nancy and Frank Richardson in New York (pictured in E. Evans Eerdmans, Henri Samuel, Master of the French Interior, Editions Rizzoli, New York, 2018, p.178).

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.



Charles-Guillaume Hautemanière (? - 1834)

Charles-Guillaume Hautemanière, known as Manière (mort à Paris en 1834) is one of the most important Parisian clockmakers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, he became a Master on May 1, 1778, and opened a workshop in the rue du Four-Saint-Honoré. He immediately became famous among connoisseurs of fine horology. Throughout his career, Manière sourced his clock cases from the best Parisian bronze casters and chasers, including Pierre-Philippe Thomire, François Rémond, Edmé Roy and Claude Galle. Marchands-merciers such as Dominique Daguerre and Martin-Eloi Lignereux called upon him to make clocks for the most influential collectors of the time, including the Prince de Salm, the banker Perregaux and the financier Micault de Courbeton, all three of whom were collectors of fine and rare horological pieces. Today, his clocks are found in the most important international private and public collections, including the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, the Musée national du château de Fontainebleau, the Quirinal Palace in Rome, the Nissim de Camondo Museum in Paris and the Musée national du château de Versailles et des Trianons.

 

Discover our entire collection of luxury clocks for sale on La Pendulerie Paris.



Louis-Simon Boizot (1743 - 1809)

The son of Antoine Boizot, a designer at the Gobelins tapestry manufacture, Boizot worked in the atelier of sculptor René-Michel Slodtz (1705–1764), who also trained Houdon. Boizot married Marguerite Virginie Guibert, the daughter of sculptor Honoré Guibert. In 1778 he was admitted to the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture and exhibited at the yearly salons until 1800. His portrait busts of Louis XVI and Joseph II were created in 1777 and made in bisque porcelain at Sèvres.

From 1773 to 1800 Boizot directed the sculpture workshop of the Sèvres porcelain Manufactory, producing the series of unglazed biscuit figures with a matte finish resembling that of marble.

Boizot also created terracotta designs for gilt-bronze clock cases, such as that of the allegorical “Avignon” clock in the Wallace Collection in London, which was cast and chased by Pierre Gouthière in 1777.



Dominique Daguerre

Dominique Daguerre is the most important marchand-mercier (i.e. merchant of luxury objects) of the last quarter of the 18th century. Little is known about the early years of his career; he appears to have begun to exercise his profession around 1772, the year he went into partnership with Philippe-Simon Poirier (1720-1785), the famous marchand-mercier who began using porcelain plaques from the Manufacture royale de Sèvres to adorn pieces of furniture. When Poirier retired around 1777-1778, Daguerre took over the shop in the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, keeping the name “La Couronne d’Or”. He retained his predecessor’s clientele, and significantly increased the shop’s activity within just a few years. He played an important role in the renewal of the Parisian decorative arts, working with the finest cabinetmakers of the day, including Adam Weisweiler, Martin Carlin and Claude-Charles Saunier, cabinetmaker of the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne, Georges Jacob, the bronziers and chaser-gilders Pierre-Philippe Thomire and François Rémond, and the clockmaker Renacle-Nicolas Sotiau. A visionary merchant who brought the level of French luxury goods to its highest point, Daguerre settled in England in the early 1780’s, having gone into partnership with Martin-Eloi Lignereux, who remained in charge of the Paris shop. In London, where he enjoyed the patronage of the Prince Regent (the future King George IV), Daguerre actively participated in the furnishing and decoration of Carlton House and the Brighton Pavilion. Taking advantage of his extensive network of Parisian artisans, he imported most of the furniture, chairs, mantelpieces, bronze furnishings, and art objects from France, billing over 14500£, just for 1787. Impressed by Daguerre’s talent, several British aristocrats, called on his services as well. Count Spencer engaged him for the decoration of Althorp, where Daguerre worked alongside architect Henry Holland (1745-1806). In Paris, Daguerre and his partner Lignereux continued to supply influential connoisseurs and to deliver magnificent pieces of furniture to the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne, which were placed in the apartments of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. Daguerre retired in 1793, no doubt deeply affected by the French Revolution and the loss of many of his most important clients.



Martin-Éloi Lignereux (1751 - 1809)

Martin-Eloi Lignereux was one of the most important marchand-merciers (merchants of luxury objects) of the last quarter of the 18th century and the early years of the following century. On April 1, 1787, he went into partnership with Dominique Daguerre, thus becoming the Parisian representative of the Daguerre & Lignereux firm, which was established at 85, rue Saint-Honoré. After Daguerre’s retirement in 1793, he continued to run the firm with great success, while conserving his predecessor’s clientele and playing an important role in the renewal of contemporary Parisian decorative art. In 1801, he was awarded a gold medal at the Exhibition of the Products of Industry, where it was noted that “in the opinion of all observers, the furniture made by Citizen Lignereux is remarkable for its elegance and lavish embellishments, for the choice of the appropriate form for each piece, and finally, for the exactness and high-quality finishing of both the interiors and the exteriors”. Several years previously, his daughter Adélaïde-Anne had married the renowned Parisian cabinetmaker François-Honoré-Georges Jacob, known as Jacob-Desmalter. In 1804 Lignereux retired, selling his business to the bronze caster Pierre-Philippe Thomire. During his active years, Lignereux worked for the most influential collectors of the day, including the Duke d’Aumont-Valentinois, Queen Marie-Antoinette, the Count d’Artois (brother of King Louis XVI), the Baron de Breteuil, the Prince of Wales (future King George IV of England), Czar Paul I of Russia, and Napoleon Bonaparte.