Attribué à ANDRÉ-CHARLES BOULLE (Paris, 1642-1732) et Fils et par LOUIS MYNUEL (Paris, 1675/1680-1742)

LARGE CARTEL AND ITS CONSOLE WITH MINERVE FIGURE Brown tortoiseshell and copper marquetry; gilt bronzes; brass; enamel; steel and glass H. 160 cm, W. 67 cm, D. 28 cm Signed and engraved on the back of the movement: Mynüel à Paris. This large cartel, inlaid with brown tortoiseshell and copper, richly decorated with ormolu falls, consists of a clock on claw feet resting on a bracket. A figure of Minerva sits in the crest. A relief plate enriches the base with an allusive decoration to the accession of the Grand Dauphin of France to the crown of Spain who would become king under the name of Philip V (1724-1746) after marrying Queen Isabel de Farnesio. The same symbolic composition of two women intertwined on a lion's skin decorated with the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece and the Order of the Holy Spirit is found on a clock in the collection of the Royal Palace in Stockholm (fig. 1). Attributed to Boulle et Fils, this one is signed by the Rouen master clockmaker Jacques Gloria, whereas ours is signed by Louis Mynuel (1675/1680- 1742), the King's privileged merchant clockmaker following the Court in 1705. He supplied the movements of the clocks intended for the greatest Courts of Europe (of Parma, Poland, Sweden...) of which one with the Four parts of the world delivered to the Elector of Cologne. He often entrusted the realization of the boxes to the famous cabinetmaker, sculptor and chiseller of the king André-Charles Boulle (active, 1672-1732). For this set, Mynuel once again called on Boulle, as suggested not only by the plaque with the collars of the Holy Spirit and the Golden Fleece, but also by the fine marquetry in the first part and the rich ornamental repertoire of the bronzes. The glass case is flanked at the base of the arch by four female figures in term underlining the dial, which is decorated in the centre with a cockerel with outstretched wings. The blued steel hands indicate the time in Roman numerals on the twelve enamelled plates. The cutaway mounts are cushioned by four leafy masks with feathered satyrs. This is a motif dear to André-Charles Boulle that can be found in his furniture from 1705, notably on the six-legged table preserved in Munich (fig. 2). The console is stamped on the top with a clasp decorated with a personification of the Tragic Philosophy, characteristic of the work of Boulle and his sons. The mask known as Heraclitus in tears recurs like a leitmotif in the father's drawings (fig. 3 and 4) before appearing on the Princes de Condé desk (fig. 5). Our cartel, signed by the Horloger du Roi Louis Mynuel, is enriched with marquetry and Boulle bronzes. Its dimensions make it a masterpiece of Parisian clock-making from the end of the reign of Louis XIV and the beginning of the Regency period. It is preserved with its original bracket.