A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU MANTEL CLOCK
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A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU MANTEL CLOCK

CIRCA 1770, POSSIBLY BY JEAN-JOSEPH DE SAINT-GERMAIN TO DESIGNS BY ANTOINE FOULLET, THE MOVEMENT BY MICHEL STOLLEWERCK

Details
A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU MANTEL CLOCK
CIRCA 1770, POSSIBLY BY JEAN-JOSEPH DE SAINT-GERMAIN TO DESIGNS BY ANTOINE FOULLET, THE MOVEMENT BY MICHEL STOLLEWERCK
With a circular enamel dial marked with Roman and Arabic chapters, in a laurel garland, flanked by the female personification of Time, seated on a plinth beside a celestial globe and drawing instruments, on an eared base with Vitruvian-scrolled frieze, on acanthus-clasped feet, the dial signed 'STOLLEWERCK à PARIS', the movement signed 'Moisy À Paris no. 719', with printed inventory number on the reverse 'L156', lacking musical movement
17 in. (43 cm.) high, 16 ½ in. (42 cm.) wide, 8 in. (20 cm.) deep
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

This clock is closely related to the model executed by the ciseleur-doreur Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain for the ébéniste Pierre-Antoine Foullet of circa 1760-65, who subsequently marketed the model. The original design from Foullet's livre de desseins is in the Bibliothèque Doucet, Paris. One of the earliest documented neo-classical designs, costing 341 livres, perhaps the earliest recorded was that supplied in around 1765 for the chambre du lit of the duc de Choiseul's hôtel, where it is depicted on the cover of the Choiseul golden box, painted by Louis Nicolas van Blarenberghe circa 1770.

A related clock was acquired by the banker Robert Child for Osterley Park, Middlesex (Country Life, 11 December 1926, p. 938, fig. 1). Another example after Foullet's design is in the Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon (H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986 vol. I, p. 162, figs. 3.3.6 and 3.3.7), while another one is in the Bouvier Collection at the Musée Carnavalet (Catalogue, no. 90), and further example with a movement by Henri Voisin is illustrated in Tardy, La Pendule Française, Paris, 1969, vol. II, p. 241. A related example was sold by the Marquess of Cholmondeley K.C.V.O., M.C., D.L.T. , Christie's, London, 12 April 1984, lot 36; A closely related model with dial and movement by Atkins, London, was sold by the Order of the Executors of Her Grace, Anne, Duchess of Westminster and members of the Grosvenor Family, Christie's House Sale, Woburn, 21 September 2004, lot 1105.

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