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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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A very fine small size Louis XV gilt bronze mantle clock of eight day duration, signed on the white enamel dial Guillemain à Paris. The dial with Roman and Arabic numerals and a very fine pair of gilt brass hands for the hours and minutes, the hour hand with a distinctive fleur-de-lis pointer. The movement with silk thread suspension, verge escapement, striking on the hour and half hour on a single bell, with outside count wheel. The scrolling symmetrical case set at the sides with acanthus leaves, surmounted by a carrying handle above a foliate scrolled canted pedestal top, with a glazed pendulum aperture below the dial above a central scallop motif on scrolled feet Paris, date circa 1755 Height with handle 33.5 cm, width 16 cm, depth 12 cm. The clock is of small size and is fitted with a carrying handle so that it could easily be transported within the home. The movement was made in the workshop of Nicolas Guillemin, also known as Guillemain (d. 1778), who became a maître-horloger in April 1729 and worked in conjunction with his son Nicolas-Louis Guillemin (d. before 1772). The latter was received as a maître in1743 and thereafter assisted his father in the family business. In 1744 Jean-Sulpice Courtois (b. 1731 d. before 1772) began an apprenticeship under Nicolas Guillemin. At that date his business was established at Carrefour Saint-Benoît; by 1748 it had moved to rue Sainte-Marguerite and the following year to rue des Boucheries-Saint-Germain. When Nicolas Guillemin died in 1772 the business had moved to rue de Grenelle, where on 10th May 1778 his father also died. His remaining stock was auctioned later that year on 18th June 1778. Guillemin is known to have used cases made by the ébéniste Jean-Pierre Latz and worked for the president Bochard de Saron. |