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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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A magnificent late Louis XVI gilt bronze and polychrome enamel mantle clock of eight day duration, the exquisite enamel work by Joseph Coteau and movement by Dieudonné Kinable, signed below the lunar dial Coteau invéf.t and on the reverse of one of the enamel plaques Coteau / No.5, also signed on an enamel plaque within the apron below the dial Kinable and on the reverse rue paupe no. 7 / quart saint andré. The octagonal white enamel dial with Roman and Arabic numerals and outside Arabic numerals 1-31 for the days of the month set within gilt and polychrome lozenges interspersed by foliate and beaded decorations, the dial corners painted with foliate scrolls, with beautiful pierced gilt brass hands for the hours and minutes and a blued steel pointer for the calendar indications, the main dial surmounted by a subsidiary lunar dial with Arabic numerals for the 29 ½ days of the lunar month and a beautifully painted moon with gilt fleur-de-lis pointer set against a gold star studded dark blue ground. The movement with anchor escapement, silk thread suspension, striking on the hour and half hours, with outside count wheel. The magnificent trellis-pierced case backed with later blue silk surmounted by an eagle with spread wings representing Jupiter upon a cloud, drapery and floral trails around the main dial, the latter flanked by a pair of contrapposto classically draped female Bacchantes, the one to the left with a double flute, the other with a tambourine, both standing on clouds cast with further musical instruments, flanking below the dial an arched frame decorated with floral sprays on a pink ground and centred by a pale blue oval plaque with a gilt and grisaille classical female playing the harp above a pair of similarly painted square enamel plaques depicting scenes of Cupid and Psyche, on a gilt bronze rectangular base with trellis-pierced rounded ends hung with floral swags, with a central floral enamel frieze plaque on four lion paw feet Paris, date circa 1785 Height 51 cm, width 37 cm. Literature: Jean-Dominique Augarde, “Les Ouvriers du Temps”, 1996, p. 342, illustrating this clock. Tardy, “Les Plus Belles Pendules Françaises”, 1994, pp. 210-211, illustrating an identical clock in the Ecole d’Horlogerie de Dreux. This superb clock demonstrates the virtuosity and innovative skills of the enamel painter Joseph Coteau (1740-1801), combined with those of the renowned Parisian clockmaker Dieudonné Kinable (d. after 1815). Its importance also relies on the fact that few surviving clocks of this period combine such exquisite enamel decorations within a highly sculptural gilt bronze case. More usually one finds plaques of this type on skeleton clocks or clocks of a simpler design generally without figural statuettes, such as a clock, likewise by Kinable and enamelled by Coteau in the collection of the Newark Museum (illustrated in W. Edey, “French Clocks in North American Collections”, 1982, p. 91-92, pl. 87). A skeleton clock, with similar but simpler enamel work by Coteau and movement by Laurent is illustrated in Augarde, op.cit. p. 340, pl. 255, which includes the same scenes of Cupid and Psyche in grisaille. Coteau, along with Dubuisson (b. 1731 d. after 1815) was the finest artist to perfect jewelled enamelling. Born in Geneva, he became a maître-peintre-émailleur at the Académie de Saint-Luc in Geneva, 1766. By 1772 he was established at rue Poupée in Paris and in 1785 was accepted as a maître of his Parisian guild. Coteau also worked for Sèvres, he was instrumental in the development of jewelled porcelain and discovered a new method for gilt-decorated enamels “d’appliquer solidement l’or marié avec les émaux de toutes couleurs sur la porcelaine”, which cleverly mimicked porcelain plaques as evident on this clock. With such skill, Coteau only supplied the greatest clockmakers of his day. Among them was Dieudonné Kinable, of Palais Royal no. 131 who was also supplied by Dubuisson and distinguished himself for his enamelled skeleton and lyre clocks. Between 1795 and1806 he acquired 21 lyre-shaped cases from Sèvres, which in turn he supplied to royalty, examples of which can be found in British Royal Collection. |