Page 75 - Pascal Izarn catalogue 2022
P. 75
OUIS XV GILT BRONZE AND PORCELAIN CLOCK IN THE FORM OF MERCURY’S CHARIOT,
THE WATCH MOVEMENT SIGNED DE LAMOTTE À PARIS – CIRCA 1750
The Meissen porcelain figures 18th Century offered his collection at an auction organized by the expert François-
The French soft-paste porcelain flowers 18th Century Charles Joullain. The sale began on 24 April 1775 in the Maison de
Saint-Louis, rue Saint-Antoine, where “paintings, bronzes, marbles,
Height: 27 cm. (10 ½ in.) Width: 40 cm. (15 ¾ in.) Depth: 11.5 cm. porcelains, lacquers, engraved & other precious stones, furniture &
(4 ½ in.) curiosities” were offered.
The chariot sits on revolving wheels which can be drawn forward by pulling This clock in gilt bronze and Meissen porcelain is minutely described under
the horses. lot 102:
PROVENANCE « Une petite pendule sur un char à quatre chevaux conduit par un enfant.
Collection of Paul Guillaume Ledoux; his sale, Paris, 24 April 1775, lot 102 On y voit Mercure tenant une bourse, & un petit Coureur derriere le char qui
Sold Chayette & Calmels, Drouot, Paris, 8 April 1991, lot 209 (ill.) est entouré de fleurs : il est de cuivre doré d’or moulu, ainsi que les harnois
des chevaux ; toutes les figures & les fleurs sont de porcelaine de Saxe. Cette
LITERATURE pendule est un petit chef-d’œuvre : elle est sous une cage de verre, & sur un
L’Art et les Enchères en France, Drouot, Paris, 1991, p. 259 (ill.) pied de bois doré. »
P. Kjellberg, Encyclopédie de la pendule française du Moyen Age au XXe siècle,
Paris, 1997, p. 147, B (ill.) (A small clock on a four-horse chariot driven by a child. We see Mercury
holding a purse, & a little runner behind the chariot which is surrounded by
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE flowers: it is of copper gilded with ground gold, as are the harnesses of the
W. Einsingbach and F.X. Portenlänger, Calden, Schloss und Garten horses; all the figures & flowers are of Saxon porcelain. This clock is a small
Wilhelmsthal: amtlicher Führer, Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, 1980, pp. masterpiece: it is under a glass cage, and on a giltwood base.)
52-54 and p. 53, fig. 37.
La fabrique du luxe: les marchands merciers parisiens au XVIIIe siècle, exh. cat., The sale’s expert did not give the clockmaker’s name because it doesn’t
Paris, musée Cognacq-Jay, 29 September 2018 – 27 January 2019, pp. appear on the dial, only on the movement. The dimensions stated in the
37-48, pp. 142-147. catalogue “12 pouces [32.48 cm]” high, by “16 pouces 6 lignes [44.66 cm]”
S. Castelluccio, ‘Le commerce des porcelaines de Saxe et de Chantilly au wide are those of the “glass cage” intended to protect this beautiful and
XVIIIe siècle’, in M. Deldicque (ed.), La fabrique de l’extravagance. Porcelaines rare clock.
de Meissen et de Chantilly, Paris, 2020, pp. 214-227.
The porcelain figures on the clock are most likely the work of Johann
Paul Guillaume Ledoux Joachim Kaendler (1706-1775), the creative genius for the figural
production of the Meissen factory. Naturally painted French soft-paste
Painter, member of the Académie de Saint-Luc and a dealer in paintings flowers enrich this elegantly chased and gilded bronze composition
in Paris, Paul Guillaume Ledoux lived in rue Saint-Martin, in the parish of conceived by a Parisian marchand-mercier.
Saint-Josse. His name features amongst the buyers at the dispersal of
large collections from the mid-18th Century, such as that of the Duc de Two other Parisian clocks with Meissen figures modelled by Kaendler are
Tallard in 1756. At the start of the same year, Ledoux was the subject of stylistically very close to this example. A larger, more elaborate version from
a complaint concerning a problematic commercial transaction involving a the collections of Baron Alexander Ludwigovich Stieglitz (1814-1884) is
Flemish painting by David Teniers the Younger purchased from another now in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg.
Parisian merchant in the rue Saint-Honoré.
The second similar chariot clock is in the Landgrave’s bedroom at Schloss
Clearly proud of his success, Ledoux published an advertisement in La Wilhelmsthal in Calden near Kassel and is illustrated in Einsingbach and
feuille nécessaire on 9 April 1759 inviting “connoisseurs” to come and Portenlänger, op. cit., fig. 37. The complex was built between 1743 and
admire at his home two major paintings “of a very great price”. One, by 1761 and is one of the most important rococo palaces north of the Main.
Guido Reni, depicted Cleopatra and the other was a Madonna by Murillo. The chariot of the Landgrave’s clock transports Minerva preceded by Fame
These paintings are probably those mentioned in the collections of Marie- and crowned from behind by Peace, all accompanied by putti symbolising
Joseph, Duc de Tallard (1684-1755) and Jérôme Phélypeaux, Comte de the seasons.
Pontchartrain (1674-1747).
The role of the marchands-merciers in the creation of Meissen porcelain clocks
In the spring of 1775, Ledoux decided to give up his dealing activities in
order to “be able to enjoy the rest his long labours have deserved”. He The refined sophistication of 18th century French interior decoration
comes about through the close collaboration between the marchands-
merciers and a veritable network of Parisian artisans with unparalleled
savoir-faire.
Under Louis XV in Paris, the powerful corporation of marchands-merciers
constantly invented new luxurious objects for a wealthy clientele eager
for unique pieces and innovative taste. These rare clocks adorned
with Meissen porcelain are magnificent testimonies to the boundless
imagination of these French merchants. Truly designers in the modern
sense, they had the idea of combining clock-making with gilt bronze and
Meissen porcelain which was particularly popular with great amateurs in
the early part of the reign of Louis XV.
The fashion for porcelain flowers soon prompted the marchands-merciers to
incorporate them as well in all sorts of forms: not only clocks but fountains,
candelabras and candlesticks, potpourris, bird cages, chandeliers, lanterns
and inkstands. Rapidly, a few reputable merchants specialised in these
items adorned with delicate porcelain flowers initially from Meissen itself or
soon after from the recently established factory at Vincennes then Sèvres.
63
THE WATCH MOVEMENT SIGNED DE LAMOTTE À PARIS – CIRCA 1750
The Meissen porcelain figures 18th Century offered his collection at an auction organized by the expert François-
The French soft-paste porcelain flowers 18th Century Charles Joullain. The sale began on 24 April 1775 in the Maison de
Saint-Louis, rue Saint-Antoine, where “paintings, bronzes, marbles,
Height: 27 cm. (10 ½ in.) Width: 40 cm. (15 ¾ in.) Depth: 11.5 cm. porcelains, lacquers, engraved & other precious stones, furniture &
(4 ½ in.) curiosities” were offered.
The chariot sits on revolving wheels which can be drawn forward by pulling This clock in gilt bronze and Meissen porcelain is minutely described under
the horses. lot 102:
PROVENANCE « Une petite pendule sur un char à quatre chevaux conduit par un enfant.
Collection of Paul Guillaume Ledoux; his sale, Paris, 24 April 1775, lot 102 On y voit Mercure tenant une bourse, & un petit Coureur derriere le char qui
Sold Chayette & Calmels, Drouot, Paris, 8 April 1991, lot 209 (ill.) est entouré de fleurs : il est de cuivre doré d’or moulu, ainsi que les harnois
des chevaux ; toutes les figures & les fleurs sont de porcelaine de Saxe. Cette
LITERATURE pendule est un petit chef-d’œuvre : elle est sous une cage de verre, & sur un
L’Art et les Enchères en France, Drouot, Paris, 1991, p. 259 (ill.) pied de bois doré. »
P. Kjellberg, Encyclopédie de la pendule française du Moyen Age au XXe siècle,
Paris, 1997, p. 147, B (ill.) (A small clock on a four-horse chariot driven by a child. We see Mercury
holding a purse, & a little runner behind the chariot which is surrounded by
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE flowers: it is of copper gilded with ground gold, as are the harnesses of the
W. Einsingbach and F.X. Portenlänger, Calden, Schloss und Garten horses; all the figures & flowers are of Saxon porcelain. This clock is a small
Wilhelmsthal: amtlicher Führer, Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, 1980, pp. masterpiece: it is under a glass cage, and on a giltwood base.)
52-54 and p. 53, fig. 37.
La fabrique du luxe: les marchands merciers parisiens au XVIIIe siècle, exh. cat., The sale’s expert did not give the clockmaker’s name because it doesn’t
Paris, musée Cognacq-Jay, 29 September 2018 – 27 January 2019, pp. appear on the dial, only on the movement. The dimensions stated in the
37-48, pp. 142-147. catalogue “12 pouces [32.48 cm]” high, by “16 pouces 6 lignes [44.66 cm]”
S. Castelluccio, ‘Le commerce des porcelaines de Saxe et de Chantilly au wide are those of the “glass cage” intended to protect this beautiful and
XVIIIe siècle’, in M. Deldicque (ed.), La fabrique de l’extravagance. Porcelaines rare clock.
de Meissen et de Chantilly, Paris, 2020, pp. 214-227.
The porcelain figures on the clock are most likely the work of Johann
Paul Guillaume Ledoux Joachim Kaendler (1706-1775), the creative genius for the figural
production of the Meissen factory. Naturally painted French soft-paste
Painter, member of the Académie de Saint-Luc and a dealer in paintings flowers enrich this elegantly chased and gilded bronze composition
in Paris, Paul Guillaume Ledoux lived in rue Saint-Martin, in the parish of conceived by a Parisian marchand-mercier.
Saint-Josse. His name features amongst the buyers at the dispersal of
large collections from the mid-18th Century, such as that of the Duc de Two other Parisian clocks with Meissen figures modelled by Kaendler are
Tallard in 1756. At the start of the same year, Ledoux was the subject of stylistically very close to this example. A larger, more elaborate version from
a complaint concerning a problematic commercial transaction involving a the collections of Baron Alexander Ludwigovich Stieglitz (1814-1884) is
Flemish painting by David Teniers the Younger purchased from another now in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg.
Parisian merchant in the rue Saint-Honoré.
The second similar chariot clock is in the Landgrave’s bedroom at Schloss
Clearly proud of his success, Ledoux published an advertisement in La Wilhelmsthal in Calden near Kassel and is illustrated in Einsingbach and
feuille nécessaire on 9 April 1759 inviting “connoisseurs” to come and Portenlänger, op. cit., fig. 37. The complex was built between 1743 and
admire at his home two major paintings “of a very great price”. One, by 1761 and is one of the most important rococo palaces north of the Main.
Guido Reni, depicted Cleopatra and the other was a Madonna by Murillo. The chariot of the Landgrave’s clock transports Minerva preceded by Fame
These paintings are probably those mentioned in the collections of Marie- and crowned from behind by Peace, all accompanied by putti symbolising
Joseph, Duc de Tallard (1684-1755) and Jérôme Phélypeaux, Comte de the seasons.
Pontchartrain (1674-1747).
The role of the marchands-merciers in the creation of Meissen porcelain clocks
In the spring of 1775, Ledoux decided to give up his dealing activities in
order to “be able to enjoy the rest his long labours have deserved”. He The refined sophistication of 18th century French interior decoration
comes about through the close collaboration between the marchands-
merciers and a veritable network of Parisian artisans with unparalleled
savoir-faire.
Under Louis XV in Paris, the powerful corporation of marchands-merciers
constantly invented new luxurious objects for a wealthy clientele eager
for unique pieces and innovative taste. These rare clocks adorned
with Meissen porcelain are magnificent testimonies to the boundless
imagination of these French merchants. Truly designers in the modern
sense, they had the idea of combining clock-making with gilt bronze and
Meissen porcelain which was particularly popular with great amateurs in
the early part of the reign of Louis XV.
The fashion for porcelain flowers soon prompted the marchands-merciers to
incorporate them as well in all sorts of forms: not only clocks but fountains,
candelabras and candlesticks, potpourris, bird cages, chandeliers, lanterns
and inkstands. Rapidly, a few reputable merchants specialised in these
items adorned with delicate porcelain flowers initially from Meissen itself or
soon after from the recently established factory at Vincennes then Sèvres.
63
