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Lot Essay
An identical clock, signed by the same horloger, was formerly in the collection of George Blumenthal in New York and was sold in Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, 1-2 December 1932, lot 79 (illustrated). This latter clock indicates only the hours and minutes and does not possess a pull-mechanism (mécanisme à tirage), as can be seen on the present clock.
PRINCE CHARLES DE LORRAINE
The clock offered here can therefore be identified with some conviction as the clock of this exact model listed in the Inventory drawn up following the death of Prince Charles de Lorraine in 1752:
Une pendule à tirage faite à Paris par Lenoir dans sa boîte de vernis rouge portée et surmontée de trois pagodes, la pendule sur son pied de bronze doré, ornée de feuillage émaillé, 400 livres.
The son of Louis de Lorraine (1642-1718), called M. Le Grand, Prince Charles de Lorraine, comte d'Armagnac, became Grand Ecuyer de France on the death of his father. In 1717 he married Françoise-Adelaïde de Noailles, from whom he separated without any children in 1721.
His principal residence was the hôtel du Grand Ecuyer in the Place du Carrousel du Louvre, but he also owned a country house at Clichy and appartements in all the Royal Palaces.
In December 1751, he owed 800 livres to Jean-Claude Chambellan, dit Duplessis, the celebrated sculpteur and fondeur-ciseleur, and one year earlier established a substantial credit relationship with the marchand-mercier Thomas-Joachim Hébert.
A second clock, probably the same, was in the possession of the Prince de Mérode, the latter's nephew by marriage in 1758:-
Une petite pendule à tirage faite à Paris par Lenoir dans son cartel et supporté par deux magots, le tout de la Chine avec fleurs émaillés, 240 livres.
ETIENNE LENOIR
Etienne II Lenoir (1699-1778) was amongst the most famous horlogers of his time. Established in 1717, he practised in Paris under the name Etienne Lenoir and, working alongside his son Pierre Etienne from 1750, succeeded in building a considerable fortune.
THE VERNIS MARTIN FIGURES
In the catalogue drawn up by Pierre Rémy in 1768 of the collection of Monsieur Gaignat, 'ancien Secrétaire du Roi, & Receveur des Consignations', no.188 was described as:- Une très belle et grande pendule....ornée de plusieurs figures de cuivre représentant des magots vernis par Martin, imitant le laque; ils sont richement habillés et ouvragés de divers ors, sur une térasse dont partie en roche et partie dorée et décorée de feuillages et de fleurs de Vincennes. This catalogue also carried the following introductory sentence on the frontispiece:- ET celui des Porcelaines rares & anciennes, tant du Japon que de la Chine, de Saxe & de France; Effets de Laques, Meubles précieux & Bijoux, par S. Ph. POIRIER, Marchand'. In view of what may, therefore, have been an existing relationship between Gaignat and the marchand-mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier, it seems a possiblity that the Gaignat clock could have been supplied by the latter, who incorporated lacquered figures executed by the vernisseurs Martin frères.
Deliberately decorated to resemble the finest and most expensive 17th century Japanese lacquer, lacquered-bronze figures arguably reflect one of the most sophisticated phases of the 'goût Chinois'. Traditionally, such lacquered-bronze figures have been associated almost exclusively with the Martin dynasty, both as a result of contemporary documentary references - such as the 1753 reference in the Inventory of the comtesse de Mailly - as well as the fact that they were granted a Royal Patent to protect the vernis technique which they had invented. This latter patent was further enhanced in 1744 by a renewed one for lacquer wares 'en relief dans le goût du Japon et de la Chine', and by 1748 they had opened the manufacture Royale de vernis de la chine. C. Sargentson in Merchants and Luxury Markets: The Marchands Merciers of Eighteenth Century Paris, London, 1996, however, has convincingly argued that there must have been a number of unknown craftsmen supplying such figures to the marchands-merciers, and indeed Parisian almanachs of the period often list several specialists in 'vernis'. Moreover, Jean-Félix Watin, in his Le Peintre Doreur et Vernisseur of 1772, stated that ten different recipes for lacquer were being employed in Paris at that time, as well as going on to say that by the 1740s the Martin family was suffering from widespread competition, which had inevitably resulted in the prices for lacquer wares being forced down.
RELATED CLOCKS
Related examples, usually with only two figures, include that sold anonymously at Sotheby's New York, 14 October 1988, lot 16; another from a garniture sold in the Jaime Ortiz-Patiño sale, Sotheby's New York, 20 May 1992, lot 7; another sold from the Estate of Giusseppe Rossi, Sotheby's London, 11 March 1999, lot 755; and a final example sold from the Alexander Collection, Christie's New York, 30 April 1999, lot 35 ($199,500). Two further models, dated to circa 1760, are discussed in Partridge Fine Arts, Recent Acquisitions, 1998, no.45, p.113, and Christie's Review of the Year 1960-61, London, p. 76, the dial signed by Benoîst Gérard.
A similar clock of larger size with three figures and movement by Julien le Roy (d. 1759), flanked by matching two-light candelabra to form a garniture and still retained in the Residenzmuseum, Munich, is illustrated in P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dorés Français, Paris, 1987, p.21, no.7.
PRINCE CHARLES DE LORRAINE
The clock offered here can therefore be identified with some conviction as the clock of this exact model listed in the Inventory drawn up following the death of Prince Charles de Lorraine in 1752:
Une pendule à tirage faite à Paris par Lenoir dans sa boîte de vernis rouge portée et surmontée de trois pagodes, la pendule sur son pied de bronze doré, ornée de feuillage émaillé, 400 livres.
The son of Louis de Lorraine (1642-1718), called M. Le Grand, Prince Charles de Lorraine, comte d'Armagnac, became Grand Ecuyer de France on the death of his father. In 1717 he married Françoise-Adelaïde de Noailles, from whom he separated without any children in 1721.
His principal residence was the hôtel du Grand Ecuyer in the Place du Carrousel du Louvre, but he also owned a country house at Clichy and appartements in all the Royal Palaces.
In December 1751, he owed 800 livres to Jean-Claude Chambellan, dit Duplessis, the celebrated sculpteur and fondeur-ciseleur, and one year earlier established a substantial credit relationship with the marchand-mercier Thomas-Joachim Hébert.
A second clock, probably the same, was in the possession of the Prince de Mérode, the latter's nephew by marriage in 1758:-
Une petite pendule à tirage faite à Paris par Lenoir dans son cartel et supporté par deux magots, le tout de la Chine avec fleurs émaillés, 240 livres.
ETIENNE LENOIR
Etienne II Lenoir (1699-1778) was amongst the most famous horlogers of his time. Established in 1717, he practised in Paris under the name Etienne Lenoir and, working alongside his son Pierre Etienne from 1750, succeeded in building a considerable fortune.
THE VERNIS MARTIN FIGURES
In the catalogue drawn up by Pierre Rémy in 1768 of the collection of Monsieur Gaignat, 'ancien Secrétaire du Roi, & Receveur des Consignations', no.188 was described as:- Une très belle et grande pendule....ornée de plusieurs figures de cuivre représentant des magots vernis par Martin, imitant le laque; ils sont richement habillés et ouvragés de divers ors, sur une térasse dont partie en roche et partie dorée et décorée de feuillages et de fleurs de Vincennes. This catalogue also carried the following introductory sentence on the frontispiece:- ET celui des Porcelaines rares & anciennes, tant du Japon que de la Chine, de Saxe & de France; Effets de Laques, Meubles précieux & Bijoux, par S. Ph. POIRIER, Marchand'. In view of what may, therefore, have been an existing relationship between Gaignat and the marchand-mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier, it seems a possiblity that the Gaignat clock could have been supplied by the latter, who incorporated lacquered figures executed by the vernisseurs Martin frères.
Deliberately decorated to resemble the finest and most expensive 17th century Japanese lacquer, lacquered-bronze figures arguably reflect one of the most sophisticated phases of the 'goût Chinois'. Traditionally, such lacquered-bronze figures have been associated almost exclusively with the Martin dynasty, both as a result of contemporary documentary references - such as the 1753 reference in the Inventory of the comtesse de Mailly - as well as the fact that they were granted a Royal Patent to protect the vernis technique which they had invented. This latter patent was further enhanced in 1744 by a renewed one for lacquer wares 'en relief dans le goût du Japon et de la Chine', and by 1748 they had opened the manufacture Royale de vernis de la chine. C. Sargentson in Merchants and Luxury Markets: The Marchands Merciers of Eighteenth Century Paris, London, 1996, however, has convincingly argued that there must have been a number of unknown craftsmen supplying such figures to the marchands-merciers, and indeed Parisian almanachs of the period often list several specialists in 'vernis'. Moreover, Jean-Félix Watin, in his Le Peintre Doreur et Vernisseur of 1772, stated that ten different recipes for lacquer were being employed in Paris at that time, as well as going on to say that by the 1740s the Martin family was suffering from widespread competition, which had inevitably resulted in the prices for lacquer wares being forced down.
RELATED CLOCKS
Related examples, usually with only two figures, include that sold anonymously at Sotheby's New York, 14 October 1988, lot 16; another from a garniture sold in the Jaime Ortiz-Patiño sale, Sotheby's New York, 20 May 1992, lot 7; another sold from the Estate of Giusseppe Rossi, Sotheby's London, 11 March 1999, lot 755; and a final example sold from the Alexander Collection, Christie's New York, 30 April 1999, lot 35 ($199,500). Two further models, dated to circa 1760, are discussed in Partridge Fine Arts, Recent Acquisitions, 1998, no.45, p.113, and Christie's Review of the Year 1960-61, London, p. 76, the dial signed by Benoîst Gérard.
A similar clock of larger size with three figures and movement by Julien le Roy (d. 1759), flanked by matching two-light candelabra to form a garniture and still retained in the Residenzmuseum, Munich, is illustrated in P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dorés Français, Paris, 1987, p.21, no.7.