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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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An extremely fine Empire mantle clock of eight day duration, and engraved “Un souffle la fait naître un souffle la détruit ainsi dans nos plaisirs l’heure apparaît et fuit”. The dial with circular white enamel chapters with Roman numerals set within a ring of ribbon-tied marguerites, with a pair of blued steel hands for the hours and minutes and winding holes hidden behind swivelling ribbons. 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 case by Thomire et Cie with dial mounted upon a rectangular plinth flanked by arrow quivers, with a young boy to the right leaning over the plinth as he blows a glass bubble, a second child seated to the left of the plinth holding out a scallop shell, set upon a stepped rectangular base mounted by the winged figure of Cupid holding a butterfly and a flaming torch and seated upon a ribbon-tied floral swag suspended from two rings, the sides cast with a butterfly encircled by a serpent Paris, date circa 1820 Height 50 cm, width 42.5 cm, depth 22 cm. Literature: Elke Niehüser, “Die Französische Bronzeuhr”, 1997, p. 209, pl. 235, illustrating a very similar clock but without the ornate marguerite dial. The importance of this clock is its case, which was made by the famous Parisian firm Thomire et Cie, founded by the preeminent fondeur-ciseleur Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751-1843). Thomire, who had already established himself as a leading figure during Louis XVI’s reign was propelled into greater fame during the nineteenth century when he and his firm enjoyed the patronage of the Imperial and Royal courts as well as from leading figures within European society. In 1804 Thomire purchased the extensive business owned by Martin-Eloi Lignereux, the famous marchand-mercier, formerly associated with the marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre. Soon his newly named company Thomire-Duterme et Cie was employing a work force of about 800; it had a workshop at rue Boucherat and a showroom at rue Taitbout, from where Thomire retailed a large range of decorative objects inspired by antiquity including candelabra, extravagant centrepieces, monumental Greek shaped urns and clock cases. Like many Parisian traders, the firm encountered financial difficulties due to Napoleon’s continuing wars. In an attempt to avoid disaster Thomire was given a special dispensation to trade with the English Prince Regent but despite this his firm is believed to have declared bankruptcy in 1813. Two years later the partnership with Duterme was dissolved and under its new style, Thomire et Cie, thrived once more under the restored Bourbons. In 1823 Thomire handed over the business to his two sons-in-law, who successfully continued it up until 1852. The case, which is a popular model, is known as ‘The Bubble Blowers’ and can be considered a reflection on the transience and fickleness of time. The subject is conveyed in the inscription which loosely translated means ‘A breath gave rise to it, a breath destroyed it so in our pleasures the hour appears and runs away’. Implicit in the symbolism are allusions to the passing of time. Firstly in the guise of the bubbles which last but a fleeting of a moment. One also sees marguerites or daisies - a flower which, commonly associated with innocence, symbolises a state that will pass as time progresses. Marguerites also reflect the passing of time for in the morning their petals open but then close at the end of the day. The case may also allude to the transience of love symbolised by Cupid, the butterfly wings so often associated with his lover Psyche, the flaming torch symbolising burning love as well as Cupid’s quiver of arrows. |