Rare and Important Louis XV Regulator Clock
Dial signed by clockmaker Julien Le Roy (1686-1759)
Case attributed to cabinetmaker Charles Cressent (1685-1768)
Paris, Louis XV period, circa 1736-40
Provenance: Baron and Baroness Lopez de Tarragoya, Paris. Sale at Palais Galliera, Paris, 15 June 1971, lot 101 ; Didier Aaron, Paris, 1999.
A very important and rare Louis XV gilt bronze-mounted bois satiné and bois de violette parquetry with case by Charles Cressent and movement by Julien Le Roy, the dial signed “Inventé en 1736 par Julien Le Roy de la Société des Arts”; the movement signed “Julien Le Roy”, bearing a label numbered 5057 987789. The silvered dial ring with Roman and Arabic numerals centred by an elaborately engraved gilt brass circular mask with arrow indicating the equation of time within an aperture at 6 o’clock, marked ‘Equation de l’Horloge’; a calendar aperture marked ‘Jours des Mois’ shows the names of the month and appropriate days for each, with an indicator from below, the main dial with a fine pair of pierced gilt brass hands for the hours and minutes and a blued steel pointer for the sweep centre seconds, with silence/sonne lever to the left of the dial and another small lever below regulating the strike.
The weight-driven grande sonnerie and quarter-striking movement has an unusual Chevalier de Béthune escapement and a steel and brass compensated pendulum. The magnificent violin-shaped case is ornamented with rocaille cartouches and foliate gadroons surmounted by an asymmetrical scallop shell and foliate finial above foliate and rose festoons with further elaborate rocaille mounts around the bezel, the pendulum door headed by a beautiful female mask representing Venus, flanked by foliate angle mounts above a rocaille shell and foliate scrolling cartouche mount incorporating two snakes adorning the glazed pendulum aperture with a further foliate rocaille mount to the splayed base.
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Two similar regulators, both surmounted by Father Time and with cases by Charles Cressent (one, as here, inlaid with bois de violette and mahogany, with dial signed “Inventé en 1736 par Julien Le Roy”, are illustrated in Cedric Jagger, “Royal Clocks”, 1983, p. 126, pls. 169 and 170. A similar regulator, with case by Charles Cressent, today in the British Royal Collection, is illustrated in Alexandre Pradère, French Furniture Makers, 1989, p. 135, pl. 96. A comparable example, today in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Lyon, is illustrated in Olivier Dacade, Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Lyon: Pendules, 1995, pl. 2. The comparable Cressent regulator case with movement by Nicolas Gourdain, in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Lyon, is illustrated in Jean-Dominique Augarde, Les Ouvriers du Temps, 1996, p. 330, pl. 249. The present clock, as well as three others, including the example in the Lyon Musée des Arts Décoratifs (cat. 260), one with a movement by Julien Le Roy (cat. 261), sold by Partridge, London, 1991, one now in a private collection (former Marcel Bissey collection, cat. 262), are illustrated in Alexandre Pradère, Charles Cressent Sculpteur, Ebéniste du Régent, 2003, p. 304 (cat. 263), pp. 194-195 and 304-305.
The clock’s case features several references to Venus, the goddess of love. According to legend, Venus was born from the sea and floated to shore on a shell borne by dolphins. When she stepped on shore, the shells she trod on all turned to roses. Thus at the top of the clock we see a scalloped shell motif, below which are roses. Likewise the mask wearing a scallop-shell headdress above the pendulum door is that of Venus. The scallop appears again above the pendulum aperture and in the scrolling gilt bronze cartouche, which also integrates a pair of snakes, symbols of eternity. The clock base features a mount integrating a scallop shell.
Although Cressent made a limited number of regulator cases, the catalogues of the 1757 and 1765 sales of his stock and art collection included several pendules à secondes without movements (nos. 155-156 in 1757 and 97-99 in 1765), the latter two with amaranth veneers. The probate inventory drawn up after Cressent’s death in 1768 mentioned no regulators though it listed several clocks by Hervé and Guiot, with shell and metal or ebony marquetry inlays.
While most of Cressent’s known regulators were veneered in bois satiné and amaranth, one rosewood-veneered example is recorded (Pradère, “Charles Cressent”, cat. 262), others are recorded in ebony (cat. 267); and bois de violette, (the present example and the one in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Lyon, cat. 260).
The known models have the same overall shape and similar bronze mounts, including a rocaille cartouche surrounding the glazed pendulum aperture, similar in style to those by Boulle and Berain. Further similar motifs include the rocaille mounts adorning the base. A number of comparable regulators also include beneath the dial a mount showing an allegory of the winds composed of two putti amid clouds (alluding to Venus being blown ashore by the wind), which was inspired by a mount created by Boulle for the Count of Toulouse’s regulator, now in the Musée du Louvre (illustrated in Daniel Alcouffe, Anne Dion Tenenbaum, and Amaury Lefebure, “Le Mobilier du Musée du Louvre”, 1993, vol. I, p. 102-105). The other known Cressent regulators present variations: some are decorated with Chinoiserie masks, which were also used by Cressent (see Pradère, “Charles Cressent”, cat. 188-191). The mask beneath the dial portrays a beautiful female head also present on a Cressent regulator (formerly in the Wallace Collection), and two others with movements signed by Duchesne (cats. 264-266).
The Baron and Baroness Lopez de Tarragoya once owned the present regulator. Much of their exceptional art collection was acquired during the early 20th century through the Parisian dealers Bensimon, L. Kraemer et Fils and Jacques Seligman. Seligman had purchased the majority of the Hertford-Wallace property from 2 rue Lafitte and the Château de Bagatelle in 1914, and numerous items in the Lopez Tarragoya collection came from Sir Richard Wallace’s collection. This is interesting, since a Cressent long case regulator featuring a female mask head mount, like the present piece, is known to have previously been in the Wallace Collection. Thus this clock could also conceivably have come from the Hertford-Wallace Collection. Baron Lopez Tarragoya also bought pieces from the Loewenstein Collection and the Count de Montesquieu.
Julien II Le Roy (1686 - 1759)
Born in Tours, he trained under his father Pierre Le Roy; by the age of thirteen had already made his own clock. In 1699 Julien Le Roy went to Paris where he served his apprenticeship under Le Bon. Received as a maître-horloger in 1713, he later became a juré of his guild; he was also juré of the Société des Arts from 1735 to 1737. In 1739 he was made Horloger Ordinaire du Roi to Louis XV. He was given lodgings in the Louvre but did not occupy them, instead giving them to his son Pierre (1717-85) while continuing to operate his own business from rue de Harlay. Le Roy made important innovations, including the improvement of monumental clocks indicating both mean and true time. Le Roy researched equation movements and advanced pull repeat mechanisms. He adopted George Graham’s cylinder, allowing the construction of thinner watches. He chose his clock cases from the finest makers, including the Caffieris, André-Charles Boulle, Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain, Robert Osmond, Balthazar Lieutaud, Antoine Foullet and others; his dials were often made by Antoine-Nicolas Martinière, Nicolas Jullien and possibly Elie Barbezat. Le Roy significantly raised the standards of Parisian clockmaking. After he befriended British clockmakers Henry Sully and William Blakey, several excellent English and Dutch makers were introduced into Parisian workshops.
Julien Le Roy’s work can be found among the world’s greatest collections including the Musées du Louvre, Cognacq-Jay, Jacquemart-André and the Petit Palais in Paris. Other examples are housed in the Château de Versailles, the Victoria and Albert Museum and Guildhall in London, Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire, the Musée d’Horlogerie in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the Museum der Zeitmessung Bayer, Zurich, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire in Brussels, the Museum für Kunsthandwerck, Dresden, the National Museum in Stockholm, the Musea Nacional de Arte Antigua, Lisbon, the J. P. Getty Museum in California; the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore and the Detroit Institute of Art.
Charles Cressent (1685 - 1768)
Charles Cressent is one of the most important Parisian cabinetmakers of the 18th century, and probably the most famous furniture maker working in the Regence style, which inspired his furniture and sculpture throughout his career. The son of a sculptor to the king, he studied sculpture in Amiens, where his grandfather resided – his grandfather was himself a sculptor and furniture maker. He initially trained as a sculptor and became a member of the Académie de Saint Luc in 1714, presenting a piece in that category. He then settled in Paris and began to work for several of his colleagues, and married the widow of cabinetmaker Joseph Poitou, formerly the cabinetmaker to Duke Philippe d’Orléans, then the Regent. By dint of this marriage, he became head of the workshop and continued its activities so successfully that he, in turn, became the official supplier to the Regent, and upon the Regent’s death in 1723, his son Louis d’Orléans continued to give commissions, thus insuring Cressent’s continued prosperity during those years. His fame quickly spread beyond the kingdom’s frontiers, as several European princes and kings commissioned pieces from Cressent, among them King John V of Portugal and Elector Charles Albert of Bavaria. In France, he had a private clientele that included members of the aristocracy such as the Duke de Richelieu and important collectors, such as the influential Treasurer General of the Navy Marcellin de Selle. Throughout his career, Cressent created his own bronze mounts that were cast in his workshop, which was against the rules of the bronze casters’ guild, as did André-Charles Boulle. This gave his work a great deal of homogeneity and highlighted his extraordinary talents as a sculptor.
Rare Floor Regulator with Equation of Time and Gregorian and Republican Calendars
“Lepaute à Paris”
The enamel dial by Etienne Gobin, known as Dubuisson
Paris, early Empire period, circa 1805
The round white enamel dial is signed “Lepaute à Paris” and “Dubuisson”, for Etienne Gobin, one of the most renowned Parisian enamelers of the time and the colleague and principal rival of Joseph Coteau. It indicates the Roman numeral hours and Arabic five-minute intervals, the seconds, the equation of time (the difference between mean time and true, or solar, time). An aperture in the lower portion of the dial with a steel pointer contains a double annual calendar, with both Republican and Gregorian indications. The three week-going movement, signed “Lepaute Horloger de l’Empereur à Paris”, strikes the hours and half hours; it has a heavy bimetallic balance with a pointer on its bob to indicate the « degrés du cercle » along a band with a double graduation of 0 to 2. The mahogany and mahogany-veneered obelisk-shaped architectural case is partially glazed. It has a molded protruding cornice and a solid base with plain reserves. It is set on a slightly protruding quadrangular plinth. The regulator is adorned with finely chased gilt bronze mounts including leaf and egg-and-dart friezes, as well as crossed, ribbon-tied oak branches.
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After the Revolution, new ways of measuring time were introduced – the Revolutionary calendar and the decimal system. The Revolutionary calendar remained in vigor for several years, until the “an XIV” (1806); the decimal system was much shorter-lived. Adopted by decree on November 24, 1793, the new system replaced the old Gregorian calendar with a new one, called the “Republican calendar”. In the new calendar, the day was divided into ten hours, which themselves were divided into one hundred minutes, each made up of one hundred seconds. This system soon met with resistance; lovers of horology, and the public in general, found it difficult to understand. Some clockmakers devised ingenious and often elaborate systems incorporating the two calendars.
Given the date the present clock was made, its creator was very likely Pierre-Basile Lepaute, known as Sully-Lepaute (1750-1843).
Pierre-Basile Lepaute (1750 - 1843)
Pierre-Basile Lepaute, known as Sully-Lepaute, was one of the most important Parisian clockmakers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In the mid 1760’s he went to work with his uncles, who were also clockmakers, and began his training in the family workshop. In the early days he was in partnership with his uncle and cousin, in 1789 becoming sole owner of the workshop. Toward the end of the 18th century, he and his nephew Jean-Joseph Lepaute founded a new company that was active until 1811 and won a silver medal at the 1806 Exposition des Produits de l’Industrie. In 1811, his nephew opened his own workshop, while Pierre-Basile and his son Pierre-Michel (1785-1849) founded a new firm called “Lepaute et fils”. For several decades they were the principal suppliers of clocks to the Imperial and Royal Garde-Meuble; they were named, successively, Horloger de l’Empereur and Horloger du Roi.
Dubuisson (1731 - after 1820)
Etienne Gobin, known as Dubuisson, was one of the most talented Parisian enamellers of the reign of Louis XVI and the Empire period. Born in Luneville in 1731, he began his career as a painter on porcelain in Strasbourg and Chantilly. He then moved to Paris and worked at the Royal Sèvres porcelain manufactory from 1756 to 1759, specializing in the decoration of watch cases and clock dials. In the 1790s, his workshop is mentioned as being in the rue de la Huchette, then the rue de la Calandre around 1812. He appears to have retired in the early 1820s. He mostly signed his work “Dubuisson” or “Dub”, sometimes “Dubui”. Having worked with the most renowned clockmakers of his time, including Robert Robin, Kinable, and the Lepautes, Dubuisson was the main rival of Joseph Coteau. Specializing in watch cases and enamel dials, he was famous for his exceptional talent and his ability to render detail. His body of work, always of the highest quality, is considerable. To mention only a few of his pieces, some clocks bearing his signature are today in Pavlovsk Palace near Saint Petersburg, in the Louvre Museum in Paris, and in the Royal British Collection.
Exceptional Gilt Bronze and Amaranth Veneer Long-Case Regulator with Manual Equation of Time and Annual Calendar
Dial and movement signed by the clockmaker Julien II Le Roy
Case attributed with certainty to Charles Cressent
Paris, Louis XV period, circa 1750
The round gilt copper or brass dial bears a cartouche with the engraved signature “Julien Le Roy A.D de la Société des Arts” (meaning “Ancien Directeur”, or Former Director of the Société des Arts). It is set against a latticework background centred with flowers or four-leaf clovers. The Roman numeral hours and Arabic numeral minutes and seconds are indicated by means of three polished steel hands. The equation of time is indicated manually along an outer circle; the date can be adjusted by means of a peripheral pinion. The endless rope weight-driven movement, also signed “Julien Le Roy à Paris”, strikes the hours and half-hours. The striking, with spring and count wheel, is activated by a pinion.
The waisted case features amaranth wood parquetry veneering, with inlaid brass strips that highlight the case’s curves. Two doors give access to the case’s interior. The quadrangular plinth is raised upon four ebony or blackened wood ball feet.
The clock is elaborately decorated with finely chased rococo and allegorical gilt bronze mounts and is surmounted by a three-dimensional figure of Father Time. The winged and draped figure is leaning forward and holding a sickle in his right hand. He is placed above a curved capital adorned with a mask that is framed by stylised motifs and scrolling. The bezel is chased with an interlacing flower frieze with an intricately chased frame. The dial is flanked on either side by scrolling acanthus leaves and seeds. The upper portion of the clock rests upon a quadrangular entablature whose corners are highlighted by matted and polished gilt bronze spandrels. Below, an egg and dart frieze is centred by a wide scroll and leaf motif, beneath which there is a magnificent female Chinoiserie mask adorned with a bow of fluted ribbons and lateral foliate scrolling. The decoration of the central portion of the case, featuring a glazed pelta-shaped viewing aperture, includes shells, scrolls, and bunches of grapes. Two small leaf motifs adorn the base.
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While neither signed nor stamped, this important regulator may be confidently attributed to Charles Cressent. Its overall design, the woods used for its veneering, its remarkable chased and gilt bronze mounts, as well as the signature of the clockmaker Julien II Le Roy, all support the attribution. Le Roy’s signature appears on no fewer than six of the approximately fifteen known regulators with cases made by Cressent. Alexandre Pradère, who has made an in-depth study of Cressent’s career, notes that in along with traditional types of furniture such as commodes, bureaux plats, bookcases, encoignures, armoires, and medal cabinets, Cressent – like his fellow cabinetmaker André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) – also made bronze furnishings and sculptures, generally on commission for important collectors. These pieces demonstrate his extraordinary creativity and the extraordinary quality of his bronze casting. The fact that Cressent, flouting the rules of the bronze casters’ guild, continued to produce his own bronze mounts in his workshop, led to conflicts with the guild. The guild, whose stringent rules dated from the era of the former Paris corporations, jealously protected its members’ rights. By producing his own mounts, Cressent was able to exercise total control over his work. This defining feature, no doubt facilitated by the support of his very powerful clients including the Regent, makes his aesthetic and ornamental style immediately identifiable – so much so that Cressent’s work virtually requires no signature.
Cressent applied the same decorative principles to his clock cases, favouring parquetry veneering enhanced by remarkably chased gilt bronze or varnished bronze mounts. His skilful use – particularly in his clock, cartel, and regulator cases – of the new decorative style that had become popular during the late Louis XIV period greatly contributed to his popularity and renown in the final decades of Louis XV’s reign. Cressent produced three different types of waisted regulator cases with wood veneers – generally amaranth and bois satiné (bloodwood) – that were adorned with magnificent bronze mounts. Today approximately fifteen similar clocks are known to exist, all of which are in important international collections, both public and private. The first type features two Boreas heads under the dial, and is surmounted by the sculpted figure of Father Time. Two such examples are in the Royal British Collection (illustrated in C. Jagger, Royal Clocks, The British Monarchy & its Timekeepers 1300-1900, London, 1983, p. 126, figs.169-170). A third clock is in the Louvre Museum in Paris (illustrated in D. Alcouffe, A. Dion-Tenenbaum and A. Lefébure, Le mobilier du Musée du Louvre, Tome 1, Editions Faton, Dijon, 1993, p. 124, catalogue n° 38). Another such clock was offered at auction in Paris in February 1761, in the sale of the collection of Marcellin-François de Selle, the influential Treasurer-General of the French Marine, who was also a great admirer of Cressent’s work: “A seconds clock by Ferdinand Berthoud, very highly regarded by connoisseurs; it indicates the equations automatically : seconds and minutes, within a small space ; the case, which is 6 and a half feet tall, is adorned with gilt bronze mounts made by Mr. Cressent. Above the case housing the movement there is a winged figure representing Time, who wields a sickle. This figure, which is sculpted in the round, is very finely executed and extremely beautiful; two applied masks depicting the winds are placed beneath the dial: this regulator would not appear out of place in even the most elegant rooms.”
The second type of clock also features two Boreas masks, but they are surmounted by a sunray motif that appears to emerge from the chaos. One example of this model, a regulator whose dial is signed “Jean-Baptiste Baillon”, was formerly in the collection of Marcel Bissey (Sold in Paris, Hôtel Drouot, Me Binoche, November 6, 1991, lot 14). A second example, with a dial signed “Julien Le Roy de la Société des Arts”, was formerly in the Lopez-Terragoya collection (illustrated in A. Pradère, op.cit., p. 304, catalogue n° 263). A variation of this second type of clock featured a smaller case decorated with the palmette motif that Cressent favoured and often used in his cartel clocks. One example of this type of clock, formerly in the Chateau d’Ermenonville, is today in the Musée des Arts décoratifs in Lyon (see the exhibition catalogue Ô Temps ! Suspends ton vol, Lyon, 2008, p. 55-56, catalogue n° 13).
A third type of regulator (to which the present example belongs) features what is no doubt the finest and most harmonious design. Examples of this type include a clock that formerly belonged to Richard Wallace; this clock was photographed in 1912, in the Grande Galerie of his mansion in the rue Laffitte (see P. Hugues, The Wallace Collection, Catalogue of Furniture, III, London, 1996, p. 1555). A second clock, bearing the stamp of Pierre Migeon (probably a restorer), is today in a private collection (illustrated in Sophie Mouquin, Pierre IV Migeon 1696-1758, Au cœur d’une dynastie d’ébénistes parisiens, Les éditions de l’amateur, Paris, 2001, p. 118). The present regulator appears to be the only one that is equipped with the ingenious manual equation of time indication, which may represent the practical application of an invention presented by Pierre II Le Roy (the brother of Julien II Le Roy), to the Academy of Sciences in 1728.
Julien II Le Roy (1686 - 1759)
Born in Tours, he trained under his father Pierre Le Roy; by the age of thirteen had already made his own clock. In 1699 Julien Le Roy went to Paris where he served his apprenticeship under Le Bon. Received as a maître-horloger in 1713, he later became a juré of his guild; he was also juré of the Société des Arts from 1735 to 1737. In 1739 he was made Horloger Ordinaire du Roi to Louis XV. He was given lodgings in the Louvre but did not occupy them, instead giving them to his son Pierre (1717-85) while continuing to operate his own business from rue de Harlay. Le Roy made important innovations, including the improvement of monumental clocks indicating both mean and true time. Le Roy researched equation movements and advanced pull repeat mechanisms. He adopted George Graham’s cylinder, allowing the construction of thinner watches. He chose his clock cases from the finest makers, including the Caffieris, André-Charles Boulle, Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain, Robert Osmond, Balthazar Lieutaud, Antoine Foullet and others; his dials were often made by Antoine-Nicolas Martinière, Nicolas Jullien and possibly Elie Barbezat. Le Roy significantly raised the standards of Parisian clockmaking. After he befriended British clockmakers Henry Sully and William Blakey, several excellent English and Dutch makers were introduced into Parisian workshops.
Julien Le Roy’s work can be found among the world’s greatest collections including the Musées du Louvre, Cognacq-Jay, Jacquemart-André and the Petit Palais in Paris. Other examples are housed in the Château de Versailles, the Victoria and Albert Museum and Guildhall in London, Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire, the Musée d’Horlogerie in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the Museum der Zeitmessung Bayer, Zurich, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire in Brussels, the Museum für Kunsthandwerck, Dresden, the National Museum in Stockholm, the Musea Nacional de Arte Antigua, Lisbon, the J. P. Getty Museum in California; the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore and the Detroit Institute of Art.
Charles Cressent (1685 - 1768)
Charles Cressent is one of the most important Parisian cabinetmakers of the 18th century, and probably the most famous furniture maker working in the Regence style, which inspired his furniture and sculpture throughout his career. The son of a sculptor to the king, he studied sculpture in Amiens, where his grandfather resided – his grandfather was himself a sculptor and furniture maker. He initially trained as a sculptor and became a member of the Académie de Saint Luc in 1714, presenting a piece in that category. He then settled in Paris and began to work for several of his colleagues, and married the widow of cabinetmaker Joseph Poitou, formerly the cabinetmaker to Duke Philippe d’Orléans, then the Regent. By dint of this marriage, he became head of the workshop and continued its activities so successfully that he, in turn, became the official supplier to the Regent, and upon the Regent’s death in 1723, his son Louis d’Orléans continued to give commissions, thus insuring Cressent’s continued prosperity during those years. His fame quickly spread beyond the kingdom’s frontiers, as several European princes and kings commissioned pieces from Cressent, among them King John V of Portugal and Elector Charles Albert of Bavaria. In France, he had a private clientele that included members of the aristocracy such as the Duke de Richelieu and important collectors, such as the influential Treasurer General of the Navy Marcellin de Selle. Throughout his career, Cressent created his own bronze mounts that were cast in his workshop, which was against the rules of the bronze casters’ guild, as did André-Charles Boulle. This gave his work a great deal of homogeneity and highlighted his extraordinary talents as a sculptor.
Important Gilt Bronze Wall Regulator with Equation of Time, Remontoir d’Égalité, Annual Calendar and Thermometer
Signed by the clockmakers Louis-Constantin Detouche and Jacques-Francois Houdin
Paris, Second Empire period, dated 1851
Provenance:
– From a French private collection
A rare and important gilt bronze wall regulator by Louis-Constantin Detouche and Jacques-Francois Houdin, inscribed on the front plate under the dial: “J F Houdin 1851 Exposition de Londres Jacques-Francois Houdin”, also signed on a cartouche within the dial “C Detouche Paris” and numbered “9730”. The regulator possesses the following horological complications: power reserve, date, day of the week, month and equation of time on a sector. The main gilt brass dial enclosed by a palmetted bezel, the chapter ring with twelve large circular white enamel cartouches with black Roman numerals for the hours, an outer white enamel minute ring to include twelve smaller circular cartouches with black Arabic numerals and an inner seconds ring (later, probably bakelite), showing at six o’clock a graduated sectorial dial for the power reserve inscribed HAUT/BAS, with winding hole at the centre, with blued steel Breguet hands for the hours and minutes and blued steel pointers for the seconds and power reserve.
Below the main dial there is a secondary dial framed by a palmetted bezel with outer white enamel calendar ring showing the date of the month, the day of the week, and the month of the year with its duration (28, 30 or 31 days), centered by an annual rotating marker for the date on which is the mechanism for the equation of time, given on a white enamel sectorial dial with indications painted in black graduated from +15mn to -15mn and AVANCE/RETARD, with annual calendar and the equation kidney visible through the center, all against a gold star-studded blue enamel ground, with Breguet hands and a blued steel counter-balanced hand for the mean time and gilt brass solar hand for the real time. The 15 day going steel and brass weight driven movement with recoil anchor escapement with micrometric regulator and remontoir d’égalité and a steel and gridiron compensating pendulum placed before an engraved false plate to protect it from interferences from the descent of the weight, the massive bob centered by a thermometer with a white enamel sectorial dial with blued steel hand measuring the condensation and dilatation of the metal rods, the pendulum suspended from the top of the case by a steel cable. The rectangular glazed gilt bronze case with stepped cornice and a pierced scrolled terminal.
The present regulator features many specialized mechanisms, including the remontoir d’égalité, which applies controlled force to impulse the pendulum or balance, thus overcoming variations in timekeeping caused by variations in the driving motor. At regular intervals the remontoir winds a secondary spring or small weight, which in turns transmits a force as consistent as possible to the escapement wheel. The regulator also shows equation of time, which is the difference between solar time and mean time.
Exhibited at the 1851 Exhibition in London, this regulator was awarded a Prize Medal.
In the Official catalogue of the Exhibition, it is described as follows:
“A large regulator in a gilt brass case, with glass front and sides. It indicates the seconds and the equation of time, and has an index for the month and the day of the month. Its pendulum, which is at the same time a compensator by means of levers, was invented by one of the exhibitors. This regulator is exhibited for accuracy and workmanship”. (The Great Exhibition 1851, Report on Horological Instruments, 1851, p. 339).
Constantin-Louis Detouche (1810 - 1889)
Detouche, who was a recipient of the French Légion d’Honneur (1853) and the Danish Croix de l’ordre du Dannebrog, was official clockmaker to the city of Paris and the Emperor Napoleon III. His firm, probably the most important of its day in France, was immensely successful.
At the Nimes exhibition of 1862, the firm was described as follows: “the House of Detouche de Paris, founded in 1803; its business has increased annually and now retails in France and abroad more than 3 million francs worth of goods. In this figure, horology, from precision items to those for domestic use represent more than 1,200,000 francs. M. Detouche has already received the most prestigious awards; I will just mention: the gold medal at the Exposition Universelle d’Horlogerie at Besançon in 1860, and the gold medal in London in 1862. He was awarded La Croix de la Légion d’Honneur for his contribution toward the progress in horology that resulted from his work, the Croix de Dannebrog was awarded to him by the King of Denmark for his electric clock. Such items deserve to be described in a few details. They present improvements worthy to be known and appreciated by every clockmaker who has benefited from M. Detouche’s work and true service… The jury noted secondly a rocaille style regulator in gilt bronze of a remarkable taste, measuring 1m, 90; … The turnstiles placed at the exhibition and considered indispensable in France and abroad are also the invention of M. Detouche. All of the items shown by this company are to be noted for their modest prices, their elegance, their rich ornamentation and precision, and their skilled workmanship. The jury awards to M. Detouche a diplôme d’honneur.” (“Revue Chronométrique, 8th year, vol. IV, June 1862 – June 1863, “Exposition de Nîmes”, Paris, 1862, pp. 605-609).
In 1851, six years of Houdin’s joining the firm, Detouche exhibited at the Great Exhibition of London (the first universal exhibition), where they were categorised as “Chronometer makers, 158 and 160 rue St Martin, Paris” showing “Chronometers, large and small regulators, mathematical watchwork, watches etc”.
In 1887, toward the end of his life, Detouche funded the publication of the third edition of the “Traité d’Horlogerie Modern Théorique et Pratique” by Claude Saunier (1816-1896), also known as the C. Detouche edition (944 pages, published in Paris, and the addendum (112 pages, also published Paris).
Among Detouche and Houdin’s other prestigious creations, one should note two large astronomical regulators of differing designs, bearing numerous indications such as hours, minutes, seconds, days, months and their dates, sunrise and sunset time, the equation of time, moonrise and moonset, its phases along with its age, as well as the barometric and thermometric variations. On them the main dial is surrounded with fourteen subsidiary dials showing the time in fourteen cities across different latitudes. One of the two remained for a long time at the corner of rue Saint-Martin and rue de Rivoli and is now housed in the François-Paul Journe SA Manufacture, in Geneva.
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Jacques-François Houdin (1783 - 1860)
A member of several scientific associations and father-in-law to the ingenious inventor, magician-extraordinaire and horological genius Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin (1805-71), Houdin came from Blois to Paris at Abraham-Louis Breguet’s request. Houdin devised and improved special escapements and compensating pendulums for regulators and astronomical clocks and made improvements to the machinery used in the making of wheels and pinions.
Jacques-François Houdin was Detouche’s chef d’atelier in 1845-59.
Exceptional Mantel Clock made of White Marble and Gilt Bronze with Matte and Burnished Finishing
Mouvement by clockmaker Joseph-Charles-Paul Bertrand
Bronzes Attributed to François Rémond
Dials by Joseph Coteau and Edmé-Protais Barbichon
Most Probably Made under the Supervision of Dominique Daguerre
Paris, Louis XVI period, circa 1785
Provenance:
Paris, private collection.
The main white enamel annular dial, signed “Cles Bertrand Her de L’académie des Sciences”, indicates the Arabic numeral hours, fifteen-minute intervals, and date by means of three hands, two of which are made of pierced and gilt bronze. There is a central seconds hand. The main dial is flanked by two auxiliary annular dials that are beautifully decorated with painted enamel. One, painted by Barbichon, indicates the days of the week, with cartouches containing mythological and allegorical figures relating to the planets. The other dial, by Coteau, features the annual calendar with its months and days, along with oval cartouches bearing the corresponding zodiac signs. The magnificent case is made of white Carrara marble and finely chased gilt bronze with matte and burnished finishing. The drum case that contains the hour and half-hour striking movement is surmounted by an urn containing a bouquet of flowers and leaves; it is supported by two eagles whose bodies are composed of acanthus leaves and stand on two legs. In their beaks they hold garlands that adorn the sides of the two subsidiary dials; they wear headdresses with a feather emerging from a bouquet of veined leaves. The quadrangular base features concave molding that is adorned with a bead frieze; it is further decorated with slightly protruding panels that depict allegorical putti musicians among the clouds, treated in the manner of the sculptor Clodion. The clock is raised upon four feet with molded rings, which are decorated with fluting and leaves.
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The present clock stands out due to the extraordinary quality of its chasing and gilding, as well as its highly original composition, which shows the influence of Parisian designers of the time. One of the most talented among them was Jean-Démosthène Dugourc (1749-1825). Dugourc was one of the main proponents of the new avant-garde tendencies that dominated the French decorative arts during the last third of the 18th century. The clock may be considered one of the masterpieces of Parisian luxury clockmaking in the final third of the 18th century. To date, no identical clock has come to light, which would suggest it is a one-of-a-kind piece, probably specially ordered by one of the important Parisian connoisseurs of the time. That hypothesis is further supported by the fact that Joseph Coteau and Edmé-Protais Barbichon, two of the finest enamellers of the day, also worked on it, which occurred very rarely. This collaboration may have happened at the request of the commissioner, probably a powerful man who may have been impatient to complete the furnishing and decoration of his luxurious home in Paris.
Joseph-Charles-Paul Bertrand (1746 - 1789)
Joseph-Charles-Paul Bertrand, known as Charles Bertrand (Nettancourt 1746-Paris 1789) is one of the most important Parisian clockmakers of the reign of Louis XVI. After his apprenticeship with Eustache-François Houblin, he became a master on February 20, 1772, and opened a workshop in the rue Montmartre. Within just a few years, he had become famous for the excellence of his movements and received the title of Horloger de l’Académie Royale des Sciences. He specialized in skeleton clocks and clocks with complications, working with the finest artisans of the time. These incuded Knab for the cases, Barbichon, Coteau and Borel for the dials, and Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain and François Vion for the bronzes. His wealthy clientele included financiers and important aristocrats such as the Marquise de Lambertye and Harenc de Presle. For the latter he made a fine vase-shaped clock that was described in April 1795 when his collection was sold: “A rich vase, of a lovely shape, with double-scroll handles, a lid, with garlands of roses, surmounted by a pinecone. In the middle of the vase and on the band there is a circle framed by imitation jewels, with a watch dial enameled by Charles Bertrand, the vase on a pedestal with sloping sides; it stands on a fluted column whose base is adorned with laurel toruses. Height 14 pouces, diameter 8”.
Today, clocks by this horologist may be found in important collections around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Musée National des Techniques in Paris and the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore.
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.
Joseph Coteau (1740 - 1801)
The most renowned enameller of his time, he worked with most of the best contemporary Parisian clockmakers. He was born in Geneva, where he was named master painter-enameler of the Académie de Saint Luc in 1766. Several years later he settled in Paris, and from 1772 to the end of his life, he was recorded in the rue Poupée. Coteau is known for a technique of relief enamel painting, which he perfected along with Parpette and which was used for certain Sèvres porcelain pieces, as well as for the dials of very fine clocks. Among the pieces that feature this distinctive décor are a covered bowl and tray in the Sèvres Musée national de la Céramique (Inv. SCC2011-4-2); a pair of “cannelés à guirlandes” vases in the Louvre Museum in Paris (see the exhibition catalogue Un défi au goût, 50 ans de création à la manufacture royale de Sèvres (1740-1793), Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1997, p. 108, catalogue n° 61); and a ewer and the “Comtesse du Nord” tray and bowl in the Pavlovsk Palace in Saint Petersburg (see M. Brunet and T. Préaud, Sèvres, Des origines à nos jours, Office du Livre, Fribourg, 1978, p. 207, fig. 250). A blue Sèvres porcelain lyre clock by Courieult, whose dial is signed “Coteau” and is dated “1785”, is in the Musée national du château in Versailles; it appears to be identical to the example mentioned in the 1787 inventory of Louis XVI’s apartments in Versailles (see Y. Gay and A. Lemaire, “Les pendules lyre”, in Bulletin de l’Association nationale des collectionneurs et amateurs d’Horlogerie ancienne, autumn 1993, n° 68, p. 32C).
Edmé-Protais Barbichon was a fine enamellist, active during the latter half of the eighteenth century. His competitors were notably the famous enamellers Joseph Coteau and Dubuisson. His name is always associated with the finest clocks and makers, including Ferdinand Berthoud and Charles Bertrand.
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.
