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An important and rare Directoire gilt bronze mounted polychrome enamel and white marble skeleton mantle clock of eight day duration, the beautiful enamelled decoration and dials by the pre-eminent enamellist Joseph Coteau, signed and dated Coteau le 8 Janvier 1796 on the reverse of the main dial and the lunar dial and also signed Coteau on the reverse of the circular Cupid painted medallion. The polychrome painted white enamel chapter ring with black Arabic numerals for the hours and minutes and rare outside Republican numerals 1-30 for the days of the month set within gilt lozenges interspersed by polychrome painted foliate and beaded decorations and inner painted names of the days of the week and their symbols, with beautifully pierced gilt brass hands for the hours and minutes, the hour hand with a sunburst pointer and blued steel pointers for the calendar indications. The cut-out dial centre to reveal the skeletonised movement with silk thread suspension, striking on the hour and half hour on a single bell with outside count wheel, with a free swinging polychrome painted pendulum. The main chapter ring surmounted by a subsidiary lunar dial inscribed ‘Phase de Lune’ with Arabic numerals for the 29 ½ days of the lunar month and a beautifully enamelled en grisaille moon set against a gold star studded dark blue ground. The fine gold star studded blue enamel case frame surmounted by an eagle with spread wings above thunderbolts and floral and foliate swags continuing around the lunar dial, with gilt bronze feathered wings issuing floral swags on pinecone tipped poles flanking the main chapter ring, with further elaborate mounts below the main dial arch upon which is a circular polychrome enamel plaque painted with a winged Cupid with pink drapery amid pink roses, doves and a quiver of arrows by his feet, the frame joined by a stretcher centred by an oval panel enamelled en grisaille portraying a Roman warrior laying a wreath upon a plinth, the plaque set within a lambrequin drape, the frame supports fitted on the backs of a pair of addorsed gilt bronze griffins, each seated on a marble plinth fitted on three sides with enamel plaques incorporating portrait medallions, birds and floral swags, the whole on a rectangular white marble breakfronted base on flattened gilt bronze feet. Together with an associated giltwood base and a protective glass case
Paris, dated 1796
Height 49 cm, width 32 cm, depth 11 cm.
Literature: Tardy, “Les Plus Belles Pendules Françaises”, 1994, p. 206, pl. XLII, illustrating a very similar Directoire skeletonised clock with enamels by Joseph Coteau, surmounted by a virtually identical eagle as well as foliate mounts and the same moon phase dial, in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. Jean-Dominique Augarde, “Les Ouvriers du Temps”, 1996, p. 103, pl. 66, illustrating a very similar but less ornamented skeleton clock enamelled by Coteau of circa 1794, of virtually the same dimensions and decorated with similar motifs, having an identical moon phase dial and incorporating en grisaille medallions but having a subsidiary dial with Republican hours and minutes in the place of the Cupid painted medallion. Pierre Kjellberg, “Encyclopédie de la Pendule Française du Moyen Age au XXe Siècle”, 1997, p. 324, pl. A, illustrating a very similar skeleton clock to the above, likewise enamelled by Coteau, in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.
The enamel decoration, which is of the very highest standard and of exceptional intricacy, is by the esteemed enamellist Joseph Coteau (1740-1801). Originally from Geneva, Coteau worked primarily in Paris, where he was established in rue Roupée, St. André des Arts and was received as a maître in 1778. In 1780 Coteau was appointed Peintre-émailleur du roi et de la Manufacture Royale de Sèvres Porcelain; for the next four years he did piece-work for Sèvres while also working independently in Paris as a flower painter, specialising in enamelling watchcases and clock dials. By 1784 his production was considerable and though he was in great command he fell out with Sèvres over payments and thus his contract was terminated. As an independent artist, he supplied dials, plaques and painted cases to the leading Parisian clockmakers including Robert Robin and Ferdinand Berthoud, both clockmakers to Louis XVI. Coteau appears not to have enamelled watches or small scale pieces but tended to specialise in larger works which were technically more complex due to shrinkage during firing. A Sèvres document states that he and Parpette (who also worked at the factory) introduced jewelled enamelling (a technique that involved enamelled gold-leaf foils) to both soft and hard paste porcelain. Coteau also experimented with various polychromes, producing a blue, such as we see here, that was so rare and difficult to perfect that few of his contemporaries managed to copy. The enamel paint was applied with a brush onto a copper plate and then the various colours were vitrified one by one in the kiln. The decoration was then enhanced by gilding, which after firing resulted in a matt finish. This was then burnished to restore its metallic brightness.
Following the abolition of the guilds in 1791, Coteau like other enamellers notably Dubuisson and Merlet was allowed to sell complete clocks without having to include the name of the clockmaker. Soon after, in 1793 a new Republican time system was introduced. This new decimal system, which became compulsory the following year, 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 this example, show the new calendar divisions. However, the new time scale proved so complicated that it was it was abandoned in favour of the former Gregorian system during the rise of Napoleon and the establishment of the Empire. Thus clocks, such as this, showing the short lived Revolutionary time are extremely rare.
Skeleton clocks were intended to show all the parts of their movements and were greatly in vogue toward the end of the eighteenth century. This period was noted firstly for several technical advances, which encouraged clockmakers to exhibit their own innovations and secondly for the evident desire on the part of the clock and case makers to recreate a more delicate and lighter appearance in contrast to the more solid earlier case models. This effect was enhanced by the replacement of pure gilt bronze by enamel work, as evident in this example. However the case also includes an array of intricately worked gilt bronze mounts. In particular the winged griffins reflect France’s growing interest in Egyptian motifs and decorations. This stylistic trend emerged during the mid eighteenth century, was encouraged by the publication of Piranesi’s designs of Egyptian ornament, 1769 and was later fuelled by Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign of 1798. As here Egyptian ornament often went hand in hand with overt references to Imperial Rome, in the guise of the eagle (as well as the enamelled Roman warrior). The eagle, which was the ancient symbol of power and victory and was represented on Roman legion standards, was later adopted as an iconic symbol under Napoleon’s rule. Another skeleton clock of the same period, with enamel work by Dubuisson, is likewise surmounted by an eagle and flanked below by a pair of winged sphinxes above winged griffins, (illustrated in Kjellberg, op. cit. p. 323, pl. B).
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