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Lot Essay
This monumental pendule à l'obélisque, of superb avant-garde neo-classic design, has an elaborate moonphase mechanism and was almost certainly part of the collections of Charles-Philippe comte d’Artois (1757-1838), Louis XVI’s brother and future king Charles X.
Bearing the signature of François Leloutre, maître 1741 and clockmaker of the Menus Plaisirs du Roi before 1754 until 1771, the present clock corresponds to the description of a delivery made by Leloutre for the comte d’Artois, in 1764 (see H.L. Tardy, Dictionnaire des Horlogers Français, Paris, 1971, p. 367):
Pendule obélisque gainé de guirlandes, deux faces pour être vue dans une glace, 2000 livres. (‘An obelisk clock adorned with garlands, with two faces to be seen in a mirror, 2000 livres’)
The unique moonphase mechanism to the back, conceived to be reflected on a mirror, as well as the signature to the dial proudly echoed by the cypher ‘F.L.’ (for François Leloutre) visible on the ormolu case, demonstrate the importance of this commission. This clock, delivered to Charles-Philippe in his youth, probably remained in his collections until the end of the Ancien Régime as revealed by the archives of the dépôt des Fêtes et du Garde-Meuble du Directoire drafted in 1794-1795, where is listed a ‘Pendule de Leloutre, horloger, provenant du Temple’
The ‘Temple’ mentioned in the Garde-Meuble’s entry certainly refers to the Parisian residence of the comte d’Artois, the palais du Temple. Originally built on several acres in Paris in 1667 for the Grand Prieur of the order of Malta, the palais was inhabited by the prince de Conti who became the Grand Prieur from 1749 until his death in 1776, when the one year old duc d'Angoulême, son of the comte d'Artois, took over the title. The comte d’Artois then moved to the Palais du Temple in name of his son and commissioned extensive refurbishing under the direction of the architects Boulée and Bélanger. The cabinet turc is probably the most celebrated room from this new scheme, and comprised the sumptuous suite of seat-furniture by Georges Jacob in the ‘goût turc’ and bronzes d’ameublement by François Rémond, now in the Louvre.
Undoubtedly inspired by the ‘goût à la Grecque’, the first phase of neo-classicism in France, this superb and finely chased ormolu case relates to a design circa 1765, now at the Bibliothèque Doucet, Paris. An almost identical model, without moonphase mechanism and signed Charles Le Roy, is now in the collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris; another clock of similar design and signed Castagnet is illustrated in P. Kjellberg, Encyclopédie de la pendule française, p. 222.
Bearing the signature of François Leloutre, maître 1741 and clockmaker of the Menus Plaisirs du Roi before 1754 until 1771, the present clock corresponds to the description of a delivery made by Leloutre for the comte d’Artois, in 1764 (see H.L. Tardy, Dictionnaire des Horlogers Français, Paris, 1971, p. 367):
Pendule obélisque gainé de guirlandes, deux faces pour être vue dans une glace, 2000 livres. (‘An obelisk clock adorned with garlands, with two faces to be seen in a mirror, 2000 livres’)
The unique moonphase mechanism to the back, conceived to be reflected on a mirror, as well as the signature to the dial proudly echoed by the cypher ‘F.L.’ (for François Leloutre) visible on the ormolu case, demonstrate the importance of this commission. This clock, delivered to Charles-Philippe in his youth, probably remained in his collections until the end of the Ancien Régime as revealed by the archives of the dépôt des Fêtes et du Garde-Meuble du Directoire drafted in 1794-1795, where is listed a ‘Pendule de Leloutre, horloger, provenant du Temple’
The ‘Temple’ mentioned in the Garde-Meuble’s entry certainly refers to the Parisian residence of the comte d’Artois, the palais du Temple. Originally built on several acres in Paris in 1667 for the Grand Prieur of the order of Malta, the palais was inhabited by the prince de Conti who became the Grand Prieur from 1749 until his death in 1776, when the one year old duc d'Angoulême, son of the comte d'Artois, took over the title. The comte d’Artois then moved to the Palais du Temple in name of his son and commissioned extensive refurbishing under the direction of the architects Boulée and Bélanger. The cabinet turc is probably the most celebrated room from this new scheme, and comprised the sumptuous suite of seat-furniture by Georges Jacob in the ‘goût turc’ and bronzes d’ameublement by François Rémond, now in the Louvre.
Undoubtedly inspired by the ‘goût à la Grecque’, the first phase of neo-classicism in France, this superb and finely chased ormolu case relates to a design circa 1765, now at the Bibliothèque Doucet, Paris. An almost identical model, without moonphase mechanism and signed Charles Le Roy, is now in the collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris; another clock of similar design and signed Castagnet is illustrated in P. Kjellberg, Encyclopédie de la pendule française, p. 222.