A Rococo Mantel Clock by Baltazar

A Louis XV Gilt Bronze Mantel Clock designed by the bronzier Duval,
the dial and movement signed Baltazar à Paris – circa 1750

Height: 16 ¼ in. (41.5 cm.)       Width: 10 ½ in.  (26.5 cm.)

Depth: 7 ½ in. (19 cm.)

Comparative Literature

An identical clock signed by the clockmaker Festeau and the bronzier Duval, is reproduced in P. Verlet, Les bronzes dorés français du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1987, p. 255,  figs. 273- 274.

Henri-Charles Balthazar, known as Charles (d. before 1776), master 16 March 1717. One of the most famous of a dynasty of clock-makers, he became Horloger de Mesdames Filles de France. His ateliers were located first in the Place Dauphine (1733), then the Cloister of Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois (1737) and after in the Rue du Roule (1747).  He used cases by B. Lieutaud, J. de Saint-Germain, E. Roy, J. Dumont, J.L. Beaucour, A. Foullet, and J. Goyer, and supplied movements to cabinetmakers Jacques Dubois and Jean-Francois Oeben

He had a large output: among his clients were the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne, the Russian ambassador, the Comte d’Armentières, the Marquis de Saint-Georges, and Mr. Castel (J-D Augarde, Les Ouvriers du Temps, Geneva, Editions Antiquorum 1996, page 274).