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Lot Essay
Louis Jouard, maître in 1724, juré 1741.
An engraving by Jean Bérain, who was neighbour in the Galleries du Louvre to André-Charles Boulle, depicting a mantel clock with similar overall form and harpy supports above a plinth base, is preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Cabinet des Estampes, Paris, and in the Bibliothèque Doucet, Paris (H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et. al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1989, vol. I, p. 48, fig. 1.5.1). This model is discussed by J. N. Ronfort in 'André-Charles Boulle: die Bronzearbeiten und seine Werkstatt im Louvre', Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich 1986, vol. II, pp. 485-488) in which he describes two clocks (Pendules á dôme) in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle as being variants of the harpy model (illustrated in Tardy, La Pendule Française, Paris, 3rd Ed., vol. I, p. 115; F.J. Britten, Old Clocks and Watches & their Makers, Woodbridge, rev. edn., n.d., p. 307, figs. 504 and 505; and C. Jagger Royal Clocks, London, 1983, pp. 124-5). These two are of the same model as the Mentmore clock, apart from slight variations in the mounts, and both have a figure of Father Time above the dome. Ronfort dates this model to 1695-1700 and points out that it was particularly fashionable around 1700, the probable date of the terracotta model for a mantel clock with domed cresting attributed to Jean Cornu (1650-1710) now in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu (G. Wilson, European Clocks in the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1996, no. III, pp. 14-19.). Another probably closest in design is on the chimneypiece of the Chambre de Monsieur le Prince at the Château de Chantilly. A further similar example, from the collection of the Rt. Hon. Viscount Emlyn, Stacpole, Pembrokeshire, sold Sotheby's, London, 13 July 1962, lot 187 - it incorporates not only the large Apollo and chariot mount and also has the figure of Fame as its finial.
MENTMORE
The art collections at Mentmore were amongst the most outstanding of their kind anywhere in the world, prompting Lady Eastlake to comment: 'I do not believe that the Medici were ever so lodged at the height of their glory'. Mentmore was built between 1852 and 1854 by Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild, who needed a house near to London and in close proximity to other Rothschild homes at Tring, Ascot, Aston Clinton and later Waddesdon and Halton House. The plans for the mansion imitated Wollaton Hall in Nottingham and were drawn up by the gardener turned architect Joseph Paxton, celebrated for his Crystal Palace, completed the year earlier. Sumptuously furnished with extraordinary works of art in every field, on his death in 1874, Baron Mayer left Mentmore and a fortune of some £2,000,000 to his daughter, Hannah de Rothschild. Four years later Hannah married Archibald Philip, 5th Earl of Rosebery, who added considerably to the collections assembled by his father-in-law and it remained intact until the dispersal of the contents in 1977.
An engraving by Jean Bérain, who was neighbour in the Galleries du Louvre to André-Charles Boulle, depicting a mantel clock with similar overall form and harpy supports above a plinth base, is preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Cabinet des Estampes, Paris, and in the Bibliothèque Doucet, Paris (H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et. al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1989, vol. I, p. 48, fig. 1.5.1). This model is discussed by J. N. Ronfort in 'André-Charles Boulle: die Bronzearbeiten und seine Werkstatt im Louvre', Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich 1986, vol. II, pp. 485-488) in which he describes two clocks (Pendules á dôme) in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle as being variants of the harpy model (illustrated in Tardy, La Pendule Française, Paris, 3rd Ed., vol. I, p. 115; F.J. Britten, Old Clocks and Watches & their Makers, Woodbridge, rev. edn., n.d., p. 307, figs. 504 and 505; and C. Jagger Royal Clocks, London, 1983, pp. 124-5). These two are of the same model as the Mentmore clock, apart from slight variations in the mounts, and both have a figure of Father Time above the dome. Ronfort dates this model to 1695-1700 and points out that it was particularly fashionable around 1700, the probable date of the terracotta model for a mantel clock with domed cresting attributed to Jean Cornu (1650-1710) now in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu (G. Wilson, European Clocks in the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1996, no. III, pp. 14-19.). Another probably closest in design is on the chimneypiece of the Chambre de Monsieur le Prince at the Château de Chantilly. A further similar example, from the collection of the Rt. Hon. Viscount Emlyn, Stacpole, Pembrokeshire, sold Sotheby's, London, 13 July 1962, lot 187 - it incorporates not only the large Apollo and chariot mount and also has the figure of Fame as its finial.
MENTMORE
The art collections at Mentmore were amongst the most outstanding of their kind anywhere in the world, prompting Lady Eastlake to comment: 'I do not believe that the Medici were ever so lodged at the height of their glory'. Mentmore was built between 1852 and 1854 by Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild, who needed a house near to London and in close proximity to other Rothschild homes at Tring, Ascot, Aston Clinton and later Waddesdon and Halton House. The plans for the mansion imitated Wollaton Hall in Nottingham and were drawn up by the gardener turned architect Joseph Paxton, celebrated for his Crystal Palace, completed the year earlier. Sumptuously furnished with extraordinary works of art in every field, on his death in 1874, Baron Mayer left Mentmore and a fortune of some £2,000,000 to his daughter, Hannah de Rothschild. Four years later Hannah married Archibald Philip, 5th Earl of Rosebery, who added considerably to the collections assembled by his father-in-law and it remained intact until the dispersal of the contents in 1977.