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A beautiful Louis XVI gilt bronze mounted white marble figural mantle clock of eight day duration signed on the white enamel dial J. S. Bourdier Hger Mecien Quai de I'Horloge a Paris.
The beautiful white enamel dial with Roman numerals encircled by gilt decorations signed by the eminent enameller, Dubuisson. Striking on the hour and half hour on a bell. The finely carved case showing Cupid on one side and on the other a beautiful but sad young girl, half kneeling on a stool as she rests her arm on the gilded birdcage. Beside the cage lies a dead dove while another perches beside the cage door. Cupid, with finger to his mouth signifies quiet as he waits for the dove to return to its cage. The bezel of the clock with floral festoon and below the dial a finely chased gilt bronze panel with Apollo head, laurel leaves and two lyres. The lower oval plinth resting on six feet. Paris, date circa 1785-90 Height 49 cm, width 47 cm, depth 21 cm.
Literature: Cedric J agger, "Royal Clocks", 1983, p. 166, illustrating a similar clock but with figures reversed, the movement by F. L. Godon and enamel dial by Dubuisson, in the British Royal Collection. Hans Ottomeyer and Peter Pröschel, "Vergoldete Bronzen", 1986, p. 178, pi. 3.7.2, illustrating a comparable figure of Cupid with finger to his mouth after a model by Falconet upon a bronze base by Francois Vion, in the Metropolitan Museum, New York. Pierre Kjellberg, "Encyclopedic de la Pendule Francaise du Moyen Age au XXe Siecle", 1997, p. 296, pi. A, illustrating a similar clock with movement by Bourdier and enamel dial by Dubuisson; Kjellberg cites two other similar clocks in the Louvre and in the Musee Nissim-de-Camondo, Paris. Tardy, "Les Plus Belles Pendules Francoises", 1994, p. 47, illustrating a similar clock in the Louvre. While other known variations of this marble case are all in important collections, the exceptional quality of carving of this present piece appears to distinguish it above the rest.
The movement was made by the esteemed Parisian clockmaker, Jean-Simon Bourdier. He became a maitre-horloger in 1787 establishing himself at Quai de I'Horloge until about 1806 when he moved to Rue Mazarine. As an Horloger-mecanicien he signed this dial and some others 'Hger Mecien. Bourdier made a number of complex clocks; some with astronomies and equation as well as those fitted with flutes and singing birds. His clocks were housed in the finest and most elaborate cases suitable to furnish a number of royal palaces. There are at least seven of his clocks in the Patrimonio Nacional, Madrid, while other examples of his work can be found at the Musee de Dijon and in Paris at the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers and the Ministere de la Guerre. One of his finest pieces was exhibited at The Richard Redding Gallery in 1994.
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