Lot n° 221
Estimation :
10000 - 12000
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 13 524EUR
A finely chased and gilded or blue relacquered bronze cartel - Lot 221
A finely chased and gilded or blue relacquered bronze cartel in the form of a simulated vase held by a bracket fixed on a cover with gadroons and channels. It is flanked by two female figures with outstretched wings ending in acanthus leaves with crosses. The movement supported by a laurel garland. The fluted pedestal rests on a console terrace with a pine cone base. The enamelled dial signed Leroy, as well as the plate, indicates the hours in Roman numerals and the minutes in Arabic numerals in increments of five.
Louis XVI period.
Attributed to Brécourt.
H : 71 - W : 39 cm
The preparatory or commercial drawing of this rare sconce is part of an album kept at the Institut national d'Histoire de l'Art in Paris, formerly the Bibliothèque Jacques Doucet, in which the name of the bronzemaker who created the model, a certain "Brécourt" (illustrated in H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, VergoldeteBronzen, Die Bronzearbeiten des SpätbarockundKlassizismus, Klinkhardt & Biermann, Munich, 1986, Band I, p. 228, fig. 4.1.8). Its particularly original composition with winged espagnolettes is indicative of its date of execution, towards the end of the reign of Louis XV, i.e. at the height of the revival of French decorative arts following the exceptional archaeological discoveries made in the ancient Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum near Naples.
The model met with some success among Parisian connoisseurs and was produced in a few rare examples, among which we can cite: a first cartel, associated with a barometer of identical composition, which was offered at auction at Sotheby's, London, on 13 December 1991, lot 212; as well as a second, the dial signed "Lieutaud", which was formerly on the Paris Art Market and appeared in the catalogue of the exhibition La Folie d'Artois à Bagatelle, Paris, 1988, p. 177; a third, the dial signed "Charles Leroy", belongs to the Swedish royal collections at the Royal Palace in Stockholm (reproduced in J. Böttiger, Konstsamlingarna a de SwenskaKungligaSlotten, Tome I, Stockholm, 1900, plate 60 and in H. Groth, Châteaux en Suède, Intérieurs et mobilier néo-classiques 1770-1850, Paris, 1990, p. 26); finally, let us mention a few examples of the work of the Swedish royal family. 26); finally, let us mention one last cartel of this model, the dial signed "Gille à Paris", which is kept in the Musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris (see Tardy, La pendule française des origines à nos jours, 2ème Partie : Du Louis XVI à nos jours, Paris, 1974, p. 308, fig. 4). "Charles Le Roy à Paris":
This signature was used as early as 1734 by the clockmaker Charles Leroy (1709-1771), then his son, Étienne-Augustin, appointed Horloger du Roi, used it from the time of his father's retirement from business around 1770. Several clocks bearing this signature were in the French royal collections before the Revolution, and they were most certainly all creations of Étienne-Augustin. Considering the date of production of the example presented, it seems appropriate to suggest that it was made at the end of Charles Leroy's career.
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