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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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A very fine and beautiful Directoire gilt bronze and white marble figural clock of eight day duration, signed on the white enamel dial De Belle. The exceptionally fine polychrome dial signed below 6 o’clock by the eminent enamellist Dubuisson, with Arabic numerals interspersed with garlands and rare outer Arabic Republican numerals 1-30 for the days of the month, the numbers 10, 20 and 30 in blue the others in red, with a fine pair of pierced gilt brass hands for the hours and minutes and a blued steel pointer for the calendar indications. The circular gilt bezel set into a white marble rock upon which reclines a sleeping figure of Diana with quiver of arrows on her back and bow in her hand, to the right a spaniel leaps up toward a dove in a branch and below the dial a snake slides toward a fallen dove, set upon a shaped rectangular white marble plinth with gilt panelled frieze featuring putti at play in the manner of Clodion, supported on four circular foliate clad feet Paris, date circa 1793-5 Height 41 cm, width 52 cm, depth 17 cm. Literature: J. Ramon Colon De Carvajal, “Catalogo De Relojes Del Patrimonio Nacional”, 1987, p. 88, no. 71 illustrating a very similar clock with patinated branch and having lost the serpent, in the Spanish Royal Collection. Diana, one of the twelve Olympian gods and goddesses was often personified as the virgin huntress. In art she was frequently shown carrying a quiver and bow and was accompanied by a dog. The same model as here appears in other guises adorning a number of slightly earlier Louis XVI clocks, for instance as a Bacchante awoken by Cupid at Château de Fontainebleau and another similar at the Residenz Munich, illustrated in Hans Ottomeyer and Peter Pröschel, “Vergoldete Bronzen”, 1986, p. 248, pl. 4.6.13. The same model also appears as the sleeping Venus being awoken by Cupid, as illustrated in Tardy, “Les Plus Belles Pendules Françaises”, 1994, p. 28. The dial features only 30 days of the month corresponding to the introduction in 1793 of a new Republican time system. This is particularly interesting since Jean-François De Belle (d. circa 1804), who made the present movement, served as a member of the Jury responsible for deciding questions relative to this new time system. The new decimal system stipulated that the months should be divided into 30 rather than 31 days, the days into ten hours and hours into 100 minutes. Few dials show true Revolutionary time but some, such as here, show the new calendar divisions. However, the new time scale proved so complicated that in 1795 it was abandoned in favour of the old Gregorian system. Jean-François De Belle was received as a maître-horloger in July 1781 and established his business at rue Saint-Honoré at the corner of rue l’Arbre-Sec. He was described in various eighteenth century almanacs in favourable terms, not least that he made highly technical pieces. For instance, he fitted two of his vase clocks with android automata, which in 1804 his widow supplied to the Court of Spain. In addition to the Patrimonio Nacional, De Belle’s clocks have been housed at Château de Versailles and in the Pierpont Morgan Collection. The beautiful painted dial significantly enhances the clock’s rarity. This was the work of the eminent enamellist, Etienne Gobin, known as Dubuisson (b. 1731 d. after 1815), who painted a number of Directoire dials featuring a 30-day calendar month. Dubuisson with Joseph Coteau (1740-1801) was the finest of his trade. Born in Lunéville, he worked as a porcelain painter in his hometown, in Strasbourg, and at Chantilly. Like Coteau, he was employed at the Sèvres Royal Porcelain Factory, 1756-9, as a flower painter, specializing in enamelling watch cases and clock dials. His name is associated with the finest dials of his day, which he supplied to the leading makers such as Kinable, famed for his lyre clocks and King Louis XVI’s favourite clockmaker, Robert Robin. When the latter died in 1799, he still owed Dubuisson 725 francs. Likewise when the bronzier, Claude Galle died in 1815 Dubuisson was still owed 120 francs. http://www.richardreddingantiques.com/collection/horology/directoire-bronze-clock-by-de-belle |
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