Important obelisk clock in painted marble, gilt bronze and s - Lot 160

Important obelisk clock in painted marble, gilt bronze and signed Boudier. It forms a cubic bollard painted in imitation of grey porphyry. The front features a white enamel dial indicating the hours in Roman numerals and the munites in Arabic numerals. It is surrounded by an interlacing frieze and framed by spandrels featuring knotted olive branches. The gilt-bronze hands are openworked, and the hour hand bears the Boudier letter "B". The mechanism strikes the hours and half-hours. The sides are embellished with cartouches featuring dancing putti. It is surmounted by an obelisk supported by four lion paws and topped by an armillary sphere. It is decorated on three sides with figures in clouds, representing the allegory of science. The edges are trimmed with twisted ribbons. The whole rests on a square base of griotte de Campan marble. Paris. Louis XVI period. Circa 1770. H_60 cm L_18,5 cm (Small chips to the marble) Provenance: Galerie Pellat de Villedon Jean-Simon Bourdier was one of the most important Parisian watchmakers of the late 18th century and the first quarter of the following century. He was awarded the title of Master on September 22, 1787, and immediately became renowned for the perfection of his movements. At the beginning of the 19th century, he collaborated with watchmaker Godon, ornamentalist Dugourc and sculptor Pierre Julien, on a number of remarkably composed timepieces for King Charles IV of Spain. At the same time, he worked for the most important timepiece dealers, particularly Daguerre and Julliot, and rigorously selected the craftsmen who took part in the creation of his clocks: notably the chaser Rémond, the cabinetmaker Schwerdfeger and the painter-enamellers Dubuisson and Coteau. The obelisk clock almost always evokes, in miniature, the monuments erected since Antiquity, notably in Egypt, in public squares, to commemorate some victory or glorious event. More or less slender, generally in marble adorned with chased bronze bas-reliefs, it is surmounted by a terrestrial globe, an armillary sphere, even a triumphant cockerel or an eagle with outstretched wings. Among the obelisk clocks, a high-quality creation, adorned at the top and base with allegorical figures in gilded bronze, rests on a pedestal containing the movement. This model was made in a variety of materials: lapis lazuli (with a barometer pendant, in the Wallace Collection, London), yellow Sienna marble (in the Musée Nissim-de-Camondo, Paris), fluorspar (sold by public auction in Paris in 1989), etc. Comparative works. Encyclopédie de la pendule Française Pierre Kjellberg. Edition de l'amateur -1997, p 217-224, 228 and 321 Expert : Stéphane PEPE Expert: Stéphane PEPE