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A VERY FINE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY FRENCH CARTEL
A beautiful Louis XVI gilt bronze cartel clock of eight day duration, timepiece only, signed on the white enamel dial Lepaute Debelle Fontaine, housed in a magnificent Neo-classical case attributed to the renowned bronzier Jean-Baptiste Osmond. The dial with Arabic and Roman numerals and a fine pair of gilt brass hands for the hours and minutes. The excellent single going movement with anchor escapement, silk thread suspension, with outside striking mechanism for the pull quarter repeat on two bells. The fine gilt bronze case surmounted by an urn with foliate finial from which suspend berried leaf swags, with a square glazed pendulum aperture below the glazed bezel dial above a foliate and berried terminal
Paris, date circa 1780
Height 40 cm.
Literature: Jean-Dominique Augarde, “Les Ouvriers du Temps”, 1996, p. 17, pl. 4, illustrating an identical clock case by Jean-Baptiste Osmond, the movement by Robert Robin and dial by Merlet. Pierre Kjellberg, “Encyclopédie de la Pendule Française du Moyen Age au XXe Siècle”, 1997, p.190, pl. A, illustrating another identical case signed on the dial Verdier à Paris.
The maker of this beautiful clock was Jacques Lepaute de Bellefontaine (1750-96). Possibly related to the famous Lepaute family of Thonne-la-Long, he was so named since he was born at Bellefontaine, near Luxembourg. Lepaute de Bellefontaine was received as a maître-horloger in 1775 by a decree of April that year, exempting him from a lack of apprenticeship. By 1778 he was established in rue Saint-Honoré and then two years later he had moved to rue Neuve des Petit-Champs. 1787 established him at rue des Gravilliers but the following year he was back at rue Saint-Honoré. In 1783 he was appointed Horloger de Monsieur, frère du Roi and in addition to the comte de Provence supplied clocks to Prince Charles de Lorraine. Despite an illustrious patronage, Lepaute suffered severe financial difficulties; in 1779 he declared bankruptcy, largely on account of cash-flow problems. However he continued working but continued to experience financial problems and in 1787 was imprisoned for a while, having pawned items belonging to his clients.
His list of creditors from 1779 provides evidence that Lepaute was supplied by some of the very finest craftsmen of his day. Among them were the ciseleurs and doreurs Robert and Jean-Baptiste Osmond as well as François Rémond, René-François Morlay, Jean-Jacques Lemoigne, Michel Poisson, Nicolas Henry, Joseph-Noël Turpin, Jean-Baptiste Allenet and Delaporte, as well Jean-François Héban’s widow and the ébéniste Nicolas Petit. Lepaute used watchcases by Jean Sanguinède and springs by Etienne-Claude Richard, whu e Joseph CoteaR?and Louis-André Thil supplied his dials. Lepaute also subcontracted work to the clockmakers F. Desmières, J. B. Poucher and François-André Bruyn and in turn supplied movements for porcelain clocks to the marchand-mercier Dulac.
His son Jean-Jacques, who in 1826 with his nephew Auguste-Pierre was appointed Horloger du Roi, continued the family business. It appears that in addition to original pieces, Jacques Lepaute de Bellefontaine also carried out restoration work. For instance his name appears on an altered movement supplied by Lefaucheur circa 1729-35, for a longcase clock now in the Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire (illustrated and discussed: Geoffrey de Bellaigue, “The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor”, 1974, vol. I, pp. 62-4). In addition one can admire other pieces by Lepaute in London at the Wallace Collection and the Victoria and Albert Museum as well as the Royal Palace, Warsaw and the Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire in Brussels.
The clock itself is housed in a quintessentially Neo-classical case, which was almost certainly the work of the celebrated fondeur Jean-Baptiste Osmond (1742 d. after 1790). Osmond, who was appointed a maître-fondeur in 1764 worked for much of his career with his esteemed uncle Robert Osmond (1711-89, maître 1746). The firm of Osmond were responsible for some of the finest Louis XVI clock cases. Such pieces were highly valued by contemporary connoisseurs and were widely distributed by the marchands-merciers, as well as leading clockmakers such as Robert Robin and Jacques Lepaute de Bellefontaine.
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