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Lot Essay
Standing almost twenty inches high and with a figural mount applied to the base, this mantle clock illustrates the large model of the form commemorating the life of President George Washington. Made in Paris for the American market during the early nineteenth century, approximately thirty of these clocks are known with many in public collections, including The White House, Winterthur Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Yale University Art Gallery. The figure of Washington is based on paintings by John Trumbull, which were reproduced in print and widely available in Europe (see entry for lot 73 in this sale). Most examples feature an eagle with upturned wings, but this clock and several others, including the example at Yale (acc. no. 2001.1.1), display an alternative design with the eagle's head turned toward the right and its wings lowered. Other variations among the group include the designs of the applied mounts. Like almost all of the large size clocks, the frieze of the base features a figural mount described variously as depicting Washington or the Roman soldier Cincinnatus relinquishing his sword (Jonathan Snellenburg, "George Washington in Bronze: A Survey of the Memorial Clocks," Antiques & Fine Art (2001), available online).
This clock was most likely made by Jacques Nicolas Pierre François Dubuc, a bronzier/ clockmaker, who from 1806 to 1817 is recorded as working on Rue Michel-le-Comte, the street name inscribed on the dials of most of the related clocks. For more on Dubuc and for a related clock illustrating the smaller model, see lot 73 in this sale.
This clock was most likely made by Jacques Nicolas Pierre François Dubuc, a bronzier/ clockmaker, who from 1806 to 1817 is recorded as working on Rue Michel-le-Comte, the street name inscribed on the dials of most of the related clocks. For more on Dubuc and for a related clock illustrating the smaller model, see lot 73 in this sale.