Description
BY JEAN-JOSEPH DE SAINT-GERMAIN, CIRCA 1750, THE DIAL SIGNED PIERRE LE ROY A PARIS, THE ORMOLU STAMPED ST. GERMAIN
The circular glazed enamelled dial with Roman and Arabic chapters and pierced foliate engraved hands interspersed with gilt-decorated fleur-de-lys, with rotating outer engraved brass ring indicating dates and months, now lacking its indirect drive from the movement, the movement with silk-suspended pendulum and altered anchor escapement and countwheel strike on bell [strike train with alterations] and with engraved signature 'Pierre Le Roy A PARIS', the dial surmounted by a seated figure of an Indian with plumed headdress and quiver of arrows holding a parasol, seated upon a hipped pagoda roof with rockwork base, the sides with trailing berried foliage, the red tôle peinte drum supported by two kneeling Chinamen flanking the glazed pendulum case, on a naturalistic rockwork base with balustrading, foliage and brickwork and on rocaille feet, the reverse of the dial signed 'a.n./martinière p naire Du Roy-/- le 2. Juin- 1750'
26 in. (66 cm.) high; 20 in. (52 cm.) wide
Notes
Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain, maître fondeur in 1748.
Pierre II Le Roy, maître in 1721 or Pierre III Le Roy, maître in 1737.
Antoine-Nicolas Martinière, émailleur, appointed pensionnaire du roi in 1746.
SAINT-GERMAIN AND THE PENDULE AU CHINOIS
With its central drum case supported by two kneeling Chinamen and surmounted by a putto wearing an ostrich-plumed crown, holding an exotic parasol and quiver of arrows, this clock is emblematic of Asia (E. Maser, C. Ripa: Baroque and Rococo Pictorial Imagery, New York, 1971, cat. no. 103). While it is possible there were pendant pieces representing the other Continents, it is more likely that this model was produced to appeal to the predilection for all things Oriental.
Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain produced and signed a number of gilt- bronze clock-cases of this form that fall into three distinct groups. The first, represented by the clock in the Wrightsman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, has a channelled rim to the case and lacks a suspended pendulum or pagoda beneath the seated putto (F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, New York, 1966, vol. II, cat. no. 183).
A second model, represented by the clock in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Lyon, has a channelled case rim and lacks a suspended pendulum like the Wrightsman model. However, as with the Alexander clock but in contrast to the Wrightsman clock, the figure of Asia sits upon a pagoda (P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dorés Français du XVIIIème Siècle, Paris, 1987, p. 192 c. 218). Two further examples of this model are recorded - one, also signed by Saint-Germain and with dial by Charles Le Roy, was sold anonymously in Paris, Ader Picard Tajan, 22 November 1987, lot 217; the other, formerly in the collection of Otto Kahn, was sold anonymously at Christie's Monaco, 20 June, 1994, lot 112 for FF 1,332,000.
The third model, with a foliate-cast case rim and pagoda seat comprises the Alexander clock, another also with movement by Le Roy, previously in the collection of Madame et Colonel Balsan (Privately Printed Catalogue, Paris, 1907, pl. XV, Tome 1); another formerly in the collection of Baron S. de Gunzberg sold anonymously in Paris, Hôtel Georges V, 29 March 1994, lot 92; and a further example, but with false signature, was sold anonymously at Christie's Monaco, 13 December 1998, lot 340.
THE LE ROY DYNASTY OF HORLOGERS
Le Roy, son of the master clockmaker of Tours, Pierre Julien le Roy, was trained by his father before establishing his own workshop in Paris. Elected as maître in 1721, like Saint-Germain he was a compagnon and ouvrier libre. Though his brother, Julien le Roy (1686-1759), was perhaps more famous as a clockmaker, Pierre is known to have been a member of the Société des Sciences where he presented a number of time-piece inventions. His clocks, always of excellent quality, were set in cases supplied by Paris' leading fondeurs and bronziers such as Jacques and Philippe Caffiri, Charles Cressent and J.J. de Saint-Germain. His clients included the Garde Meuble de la Couronne, the duchesse d'Halincourt, duchesse du Maine, Prince de Condé, comte de Charolais and the Maréchal-duc de Richelieu.
Based on the inscribed signatures, the Alexander clock movement could equally have been made by Pierre III Le Roy. The son of the renowned clockmaker Julien II Le Roy and nephew to the forementioned Pierre II Le Roy, Pierre III succeeded his father in 1759 as the Horloger Ordinaire du Roi, in residence in the Louvre. One of the better educated and most able clockmakers of his day, Pierre III was widely praised for his invention of a marine chronometer - in recognition of this monumental accomplishement he was awarded the double prize of the académie des Sciences in 1769. The younger Le Roy counted both Louis XV and Louis XVI among his clientele, the latter of which awarded him an annual allowance of 1,200 livres in 1776.
ANTOINE-NICOLAS MARTINIERE (1706-1784)
An émailleur (enameller) and miniaturist, Martinière was named a pensionnaire du roi in 1746 and is known to have established a workshop on the rue des Cinq-Diamants by 1741. Two signed works demonstrate his considerable talent. The first is an enamel now at Versailles, The Battle of Fontenoy, which is signed and dated 1747. The second is a signed, enamelled perpetual wall-calender made for Louis XV in 1741-1742 and now in the Wallace Collection (F.J.B. Watson, Wallace Collection Catalogues: Furniture, London, 1956, pp. 34-35, plate 1). He was the first to perfect a technique for making an enamel dial from a simple piece circa 1730/40, for which he was awarded a pension by Louis XV.
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