THE MOVEMENT BY ADMYRAULD, PARIS, THE CASE POSSIBLY BY PHILIPPE CAFFIERI, CIRCA 1765-70

With its bold neo-classical design headed by a trophy and incorporating garlands, a lion masks and turned feet, this striking clock of grand proportions is indebted to the goût Grec designs of Jean-Charles Delafosse (d. 1791) and Jean-Louis Prieur (d. c. 1785), disseminated through several editions of engraved plates from the late 1760s. While designs by Prieur were in many cases proposals submitted for a specific intent within a defined commission, Delafosse's ornamental designs for trophies, cartouches, clocks, firedogs etc. first published as part of the Nouvelle Iconologie historique in 1768 (S. Eriksen, Early Neo-Classicism, London, 1974, p. 170 and p. 217). It relates closely to the urn clock surmounting the great bureau plat made circa 1754-56 for Ange-Laurent Lalive de Jully, probably by Joseph Baumhauer (died 1772) and Philippe Caffiéri (1714-1774) to the designs of Louis-Joseph Le Lorrain (1714-1759), which is now at the Musée Condé at Chantilly. This clock design is generally associated with the bronzier Robert Osmond, whose signature appears on various known models, but it is probable that the original design was developed and executed was conceived by Caffieri who then lent or transferred the model to Osmond (S. Eriksen, op.cit. 89 and Pl. 187).