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An extremely beautiful Louis XV gilt bronze grand cartel clock of eight day duration, signed on the white enamel dial Bellin à Paris, the dial with Roman and Arabic numerals with a very fine pair of pierced gilt brass hands for the hours and minutes. The movement with anchor escapement, silk thread suspension, striking on the hour and half hour on a single bell, with outside count wheel. The superb Rococo case attributed to Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain of asymmetrical cartouche outline decorated overall with roses and other floral and foliate scrolls surmounted by a pair of lovers in contemporary dress making music beneath a leafy arbour, the man standing as he plays the flute and leans toward the woman who sits holding an open music score upon her knee while raising a baton in her left hand, with a dog seated between the pair, with an asymmetrical shaped glazed pendulum aperture below the dial above the figure of a winged Cupid bound by a ribbon with quiver of arrows at its far end, the case terminated by a foliate scrolled boss
Paris, date circa 1745
Height 125 cm.
Literature: Richard Mühe and Horand M. Vogel, “Alte Uhren. Ein Handbuch Europäischer Tischuhren, Wanduhren und Bodenstanduhren”, 1976, p. 184, pl. 340, illustrating a cartel of very similar design measuring 101 cm. in height but without the figure of Cupid and less additional flowers and foliage by an unknown maker in the Museum für Kunsthandwerk in Dresden. Pierre Kjellberg, “Encyclopédie de la Pendule Française du Moyen Age au XXe Siècle”, 1997, p. 102, pl. A, illustrating a clock case of the same design but without the figure of Cupid, with movement by Pierre Le Roy à Paris. And front cover illustrating the upper details of the case.
For a case of such magnificent splendour as this it is surprising that the name of the Parisian clockmaker Bellin is not recorded. Clock cases of the same design are known; in addition to that housing a movement by the esteemed maître Pierre Le Roy (1687-1762), clockmaker to Louis XV, other cases of the same or very similar design house movements by the Parisian makers Nicolas Brindeau (d. after 1788), Berton and Jean-Baptiste-Marie Colin de La Glizière (d. 1767). The case, which Pierre Kjellberg considered so beautiful that he illustrated the upper details of a comparable example it on the front cover of his book on French clocks, is also of superb quality. It is not only for these qualities that it is attributed to the fondeur Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain (1719-91) but also on account of its overall design, its intricate details, the inclusion of so many flowers, the dog as well as lovers complete with Cupid. In particular Cupid’s slightly precarious pose can be compared to another cartel by Saint-Germain of circa 1745 in Stockholm Castle representing Diana with two putti amongst an abundance of foliage and flowers (illustrated in Ottomeyer and Pröschel, op. cit., p. 115, pl. 2.5.4).
Jean-Joseph de St. Germain created a number of clock cases of similar inventiveness and quality for which he gained great renown. He was also one of the main exponents of the Rococo style that dominated the arts during the reign of Louis XV. Typical elements include the asymmetrical form, the abundance of foliate scrolls and finely detailed floral sprays combined with the references to music and love. The latter quality is not only evidenced by the figure of Cupid with his quiver of arrows but also the inclusion of the dog, which is a symbol of fidelity. Music was also a reoccurring theme within Rococo design and because of its overt reference here, it is very probable that the clock was intended to hang on the wall of a music room belonging to a member of Louis XV’s court.
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