58 - APOLLO’S CHARIOT CLOCK

APOLLO’S CHARIOT CLOCK in brown tortoiseshell marquetry and engraved brass, known as the “Boulle” style, decorated with stylized foliage scrolls, featuring a semicircular console supporting Apollo’s chariot drawn by four horses, topped by a dial featuring Roman and Arabic numerals and a finial with fire pots and a figure of Fame, resting on beveled uprights and caryatids; the rectangular base is decorated with foliage and plumed mascarons; (restorations). The dial and movement are signed H. V. Soest Louis XIV period H: 128 cm, W: 56 cm, D: 35 cm This clock underwent a minor modification fairly recently at the tips of the legs to allow it to be used without its base. We will provide the buyer with the parts removed during this process so that, if desired, they may restore this cartel to its original condition. It features the famous “Four Horses of the Sun” composition by Jean-Baptiste Tuby (1635–1707), based on a design by Charles Le Brun (1619–1690) for the Fountain of Apollo in the gardens of the Palace of Versailles, a motif also found on the famous case clock attributed to André-Charles Boulle and housed at the Palace of Fontainebleau. An identical clock is listed as being housed at the Château de Chambord, likely made in the same workshop but without a specific attribution and no clockmaker’s name (source: POP database of the Ministry of Culture). The name H. V. Soest—which likely should be read as H. Van Soest—immediately brings to mind the great cabinetmaker and merchant Henrik Van Soest, who was based in Antwerp and traded throughout Europe in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Without further evidence, it is interesting to note the role that Van Soest may have played in the manufacture of the clock’s case, possibly in the signing of the movement (in accordance with Antwerp’s guild regulations), and in the marketing of the entire piece, possibly through agents in Paris.