Page 107 - Pascal Izarn catalogue 2024
P. 107
OUIS XVI GILT BRONZE AND BLEU
TURQUIN MARBLE MANTEL-CLOCK, THE
CASE ATTRIBUTED TO LEMOIGNE, THE DIAL
SIGNED ROBIN – CIRCA 1780
Height: 65 cm. (25 ½ in.) Width: 51.5 cm. (20 ¼ in.) Depth: 19.7 cm. (7 ¾ in.)
Jean-Jacques Lemoigne (1746-1811), maître fondeur 28 March 1772
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
P. Verlet, Les bronzes dorés français du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1987, p. 313, no.
344.
J-D. Augarde, Les Ouvriers du Temps, Geneva, 1996, p. 262, fig. 205.
Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, the Comte de Provence, and Mesdames
Victoire and Adélaïde all owned clocks of this model.
Augarde (op. cit, fig. 205) illustrates an identical clock, also with a bleu
turquin marble base and movement by Robin which was confiscated from
the Marquis de Sérent, governor to the Comte d’Artois’ children.
Another identical one, the dial signed Robin, horloger du Roi à Paris in the
Grandjean bequest in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris is illustrated
in Verlet, op. cit., no. 344. Verlet cites another identical model, also with
a movement by Robin, which was described in the inventory of clocks
owned by Marie Antoinette (inv. 33).
Further identical models signed by Robin include:
- Sold Christie’s New York, 18 May 1989, lot 61 (bleu turquin marble, the
dial signed Robin Hr du Roy, the enamel Coteau 1785)
- Sold Sotheby’s New York, 9 June 2014, lot 76 (bleu turquin marble, the
dial signed Robin aux galeries du Louvre).
The drawing for this model is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York (fig. 1). The MMA’s sheet is likely to have been part of a group of
drawings illustrating potential works for sale sent by a Parisien marchand-
mercier, possibly Dominique Daguerre, to the Saxe-Teschens, important
clients in the Low Countries, which they jointly governed from 1780-1792.
LEMOINE, LEMOYNE, LEMOIGNE Fig. 1 – Presentation drawing of a
clock, circa 1770-1790, from the Saxe-
A SUCCESSFUL CAREER IN THE WAKE OF OSMOND
Among the elite workers in gilt bronze in the late 18th and early 19th Century, the memory of the Teschen Album
Lemoigne family had almost faded from memory (or had not escaped unscathed) until the recent Pen and brown and black ink, brush
recognition of two models, including the clock presented opposite1 and a pair of candelabras signed
E.L..2 But due to phonetic, spelling or typological errors, it was especially in the form of Lemoyne that the and grey, yellow, and green wash
family avoided complete oblivion. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Pierre Verlet omitted them in his ‘Index des Bronziers parisiens’.3 His Lemoine (Lemoyne) section includes
only nine names among which there are in fact five Lemoignes, including a family of four maîtres fondeurs (inv. 60.692.3)
from Canisy in Normandy. They had been attracted to the capital by the example of Robert Osmond
(1711-1789), maître fondeur in 1746, a native of the same village.4 Continued overleaf »
In 1764, Robert Osmond placed the eldest of the siblings, David Lemoigne (1743-1781) in
apprenticeship5 with François Guy (1696-d. after 1773), maître fondeur in 1719. David married in 1768
the widow of Étienne Lucas, a maître fondeur from a family specializing in domestic works, pumps and
various amenities;6 present at the signing of the contract were Robert Osmond as a family friend as
well as Jean-Jacques Lemoigne, the younger brother of the husband-to-be and not yet a maître fondeur-
ciseleur. David became principally a fondeur-pompier, specializing in taps and fittings. It was he who in
1766 placed his youngest brother, (Sébastien) François Lemoigne (b. 1749) with Pierre Delacroix, maître
fondeur in 1763.7 But the young apprentice does not seem to have persevered on this path.
As late as 1764, Jean-Jacques Lemoigne (1746-1811) had been apprenticed by his elder brother David
to Jean-Baptiste Osmond (1742 – after 1790),8 maître fondeur in 1762. Jean-Baptiste was the nephew
and future associate of Robert Osmond. Jean-Jacques Lemoigne received maître fondeur in 1772 and
then began a successful career in the wake of the Osmonds.
These three Lemoigne brothers came from the marriage of Jean Lemoigne, a labourer in Canisy, and
Jeanne Sauvage. As a widower, he remarried Marie Godmer who gave him two other sons, Pierre, a
future maître paveur (master paver) in Paris, and (Jean-Pierre) Étienne, born around 1753, apprenticed
93
TURQUIN MARBLE MANTEL-CLOCK, THE
CASE ATTRIBUTED TO LEMOIGNE, THE DIAL
SIGNED ROBIN – CIRCA 1780
Height: 65 cm. (25 ½ in.) Width: 51.5 cm. (20 ¼ in.) Depth: 19.7 cm. (7 ¾ in.)
Jean-Jacques Lemoigne (1746-1811), maître fondeur 28 March 1772
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
P. Verlet, Les bronzes dorés français du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1987, p. 313, no.
344.
J-D. Augarde, Les Ouvriers du Temps, Geneva, 1996, p. 262, fig. 205.
Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, the Comte de Provence, and Mesdames
Victoire and Adélaïde all owned clocks of this model.
Augarde (op. cit, fig. 205) illustrates an identical clock, also with a bleu
turquin marble base and movement by Robin which was confiscated from
the Marquis de Sérent, governor to the Comte d’Artois’ children.
Another identical one, the dial signed Robin, horloger du Roi à Paris in the
Grandjean bequest in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris is illustrated
in Verlet, op. cit., no. 344. Verlet cites another identical model, also with
a movement by Robin, which was described in the inventory of clocks
owned by Marie Antoinette (inv. 33).
Further identical models signed by Robin include:
- Sold Christie’s New York, 18 May 1989, lot 61 (bleu turquin marble, the
dial signed Robin Hr du Roy, the enamel Coteau 1785)
- Sold Sotheby’s New York, 9 June 2014, lot 76 (bleu turquin marble, the
dial signed Robin aux galeries du Louvre).
The drawing for this model is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York (fig. 1). The MMA’s sheet is likely to have been part of a group of
drawings illustrating potential works for sale sent by a Parisien marchand-
mercier, possibly Dominique Daguerre, to the Saxe-Teschens, important
clients in the Low Countries, which they jointly governed from 1780-1792.
LEMOINE, LEMOYNE, LEMOIGNE Fig. 1 – Presentation drawing of a
clock, circa 1770-1790, from the Saxe-
A SUCCESSFUL CAREER IN THE WAKE OF OSMOND
Among the elite workers in gilt bronze in the late 18th and early 19th Century, the memory of the Teschen Album
Lemoigne family had almost faded from memory (or had not escaped unscathed) until the recent Pen and brown and black ink, brush
recognition of two models, including the clock presented opposite1 and a pair of candelabras signed
E.L..2 But due to phonetic, spelling or typological errors, it was especially in the form of Lemoyne that the and grey, yellow, and green wash
family avoided complete oblivion. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Pierre Verlet omitted them in his ‘Index des Bronziers parisiens’.3 His Lemoine (Lemoyne) section includes
only nine names among which there are in fact five Lemoignes, including a family of four maîtres fondeurs (inv. 60.692.3)
from Canisy in Normandy. They had been attracted to the capital by the example of Robert Osmond
(1711-1789), maître fondeur in 1746, a native of the same village.4 Continued overleaf »
In 1764, Robert Osmond placed the eldest of the siblings, David Lemoigne (1743-1781) in
apprenticeship5 with François Guy (1696-d. after 1773), maître fondeur in 1719. David married in 1768
the widow of Étienne Lucas, a maître fondeur from a family specializing in domestic works, pumps and
various amenities;6 present at the signing of the contract were Robert Osmond as a family friend as
well as Jean-Jacques Lemoigne, the younger brother of the husband-to-be and not yet a maître fondeur-
ciseleur. David became principally a fondeur-pompier, specializing in taps and fittings. It was he who in
1766 placed his youngest brother, (Sébastien) François Lemoigne (b. 1749) with Pierre Delacroix, maître
fondeur in 1763.7 But the young apprentice does not seem to have persevered on this path.
As late as 1764, Jean-Jacques Lemoigne (1746-1811) had been apprenticed by his elder brother David
to Jean-Baptiste Osmond (1742 – after 1790),8 maître fondeur in 1762. Jean-Baptiste was the nephew
and future associate of Robert Osmond. Jean-Jacques Lemoigne received maître fondeur in 1772 and
then began a successful career in the wake of the Osmonds.
These three Lemoigne brothers came from the marriage of Jean Lemoigne, a labourer in Canisy, and
Jeanne Sauvage. As a widower, he remarried Marie Godmer who gave him two other sons, Pierre, a
future maître paveur (master paver) in Paris, and (Jean-Pierre) Étienne, born around 1753, apprenticed
93
