Description
Rare ormolu and chased bronze pendulum in the form of an antique urn adorned with garlands of fruit and a lizard. The urn rests on a quadrangular base flanked at the corners by fluted pilasters and adorned with ram heads holding heavy laurel garlands and a medallion featuring the portrait of Henri IV. The plinth-shaped base is decorated with a molding of ovals and foliage. The urn features a dial with two rotating circles, one with Roman numerals and the other with Arabic numerals, represented in black enameled cartouches on a white background. The base features a white enameled dial with date, lunar phases and zodiac signs, with each of the twelve animals of the zodiac depicted in polychrome enamel in gold medallions. Signed Mathieu fecit in the center and Coteau (partially faded) in the lower center. Movement signed E.Mathieu in Paris. Louis XVI period. (One garland detached, no key or pendulum). (Gold wear, traces of oxidation, marble base missing, movement to be overhauled, dial re-fixed with two modern screws, wear, small chips and cracks to dial, domed dial glass missing). 51 x 22 x 19 cm. Edme MATHIEU le jeune, received the title of Master Watchmaker in 1769, and was based in rue Saint-Honoré in Paris from 1772 to 1789. Joseph COTEAU (1740-1812) was one of the most famous dial painters of the second half of the 18th century. He also worked as a painter on jewelry and porcelain. He set up shop on rue Poupée in Paris in 1778. A similar clock with the allegories of Study and Geography was delivered to the Palais Michel in Saint Petersburg. It is now kept in the Kremlin Palace (illustrated in J-D Augarde, Les Ouvriers du temps, Geneva, 1996, p. 205). A second clock belonged to the Charles de Bestegui collection at the Château de Groussay (Sotheby's, June 3, 1999, lot 868). Finally, a clock of identical design, with a white marble base, from the Al Thani collection, was sold in Paris at the Hôtel Lambert sale (Sotheby's, October 13, 2022, lot 648).
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Rare ormolu and chased bronze pendulum in the form of an antique urn adorned with garlands of fruit and a lizard. The urn rests on a quadrangular base flanked at the corners by fluted pilasters and adorned with ram heads holding heavy laurel garlands and a medallion featuring the portrait of Henri IV. The plinth-shaped base is decorated with a molding of ovals and foliage. The urn features a dial with two rotating circles, one with Roman numerals and the other with Arabic numerals, represented in black enameled cartouches on a white background. The base features a white enameled dial with date, lunar phases and zodiac signs, with each of the twelve animals of the zodiac depicted in polychrome enamel in gold medallions. Signed Mathieu fecit in the center and Coteau (partially faded) in the lower center. Movement signed E.Mathieu in Paris. Louis XVI period. (One garland detached, no key or pendulum). (Gold wear, traces of oxidation, marble base missing, movement to be overhauled, dial re-fixed with two modern screws, wear, small chips and cracks to dial, domed dial glass missing). 51 x 22 x 19 cm. Edme MATHIEU le jeune, received the title of Master Watchmaker in 1769, and was based in rue Saint-Honoré in Paris from 1772 to 1789. Joseph COTEAU (1740-1812) was one of the most famous dial painters of the second half of the 18th century. He also worked as a painter on jewelry and porcelain. He set up shop on rue Poupée in Paris in 1778. A similar clock with the allegories of Study and Geography was delivered to the Palais Michel in Saint Petersburg. It is now kept in the Kremlin Palace (illustrated in J-D Augarde, Les Ouvriers du temps, Geneva, 1996, p. 205). A second clock belonged to the Charles de Bestegui collection at the Château de Groussay (Sotheby's, June 3, 1999, lot 868). Finally, a clock of identical design, with a white marble base, from the Al Thani collection, was sold in Paris at the Hôtel Lambert sale (Sotheby's, October 13, 2022, lot 648).
