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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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An extremely fine and rare Louis XVI gilt bronze and white marble mantle clock of eight day duration, the white enamel dial signed Thomas à Paris and also Coteau just below 6 o’clock with Roman and Arabic numerals and a fine pair of gilt brass hands for the hours and minutes. The movement with anchor escapement, silk thread suspension, striking on the hour and half hour, with outside count wheel. The rare case attributed to Pierre Gouthière with dial and beaded bezel mounted on a shaped plinth with foliate berried boss decorated with foliate spandrels at each corner and surmounted by a pair of putti holding a dove within a laurel leaf bower, with a pair of foliate finials set either side above two outward facing semi-nude female caryatids who hold the clock plinth aloft, each figure with coiled hair, tassels at her neck, bare breasts and a lambrequin cloth draped around her thighs, each standing on a stepped shaped rectangular white marble base mounted with a central rosette and beaded and acanthus borders Paris, date circa 1780 Height 28 cm, width 18.5 cm. Literature: Elke Niehüser, “Die Französische Bronzeuhr”, 1997, p. 206, pl. 175, illustrating an almost identical clock. The beauty of this clock rests on its rare and elaborate case, its fine dial and its movement. The latter was made by Nicolas Thomas (m. 1778 d. after 1806), who was received as a maître-horloger in 1778, at which date he held the title of Horloger du roi. Three years later he was recorded at rue du Bac and in 1789 at rue de l’Echelle and finally at rue de Gretry in 1806. He made the movement for another Louis XVI clock with case by François Rémond after a model by Louis-Simon Boizot portraying Learning and Philosophy and dial by Dubuisson, in addition to a later Empire clock with case portraying Apollo by Claude Galle (illustrated respectively in Pierre Kjellberg, “Encyclopédie de la Pendule Française du Moyen Age au XXe Siècle”, 1997, pp. 261 and 404, pl. B). Interestingly Thomas married Thérèse Emilie daughter of Pierre Millot, another fine clockmaker. The dial was painted by one of history’s greatest enamellists Joseph Coteau (1740-1801). Coteau originated from Geneva but worked primarily in Paris, where he was established in rue Poupé, St. André des Arts and was received as a maître in 1778. In 1780 he was appointed Peintre-émailleur du roi et de la Manufacture Royale de Sèvres Porcelain and for the next four years did piece-work there while also working independently in Paris as a flower painter, specializing in enamelling watchcases and clock dials. By 1784 he had fallen out with Sèvres and thereafter worked as an independent enamellist supplying the very finest dials, plaques and even fully decorated enamel cases to other leading Parisian clockmakers. The bronze work is attributed to the esteemed Parisian fondeur-doreur Pierre Gouthière (1732-1813) on account of its quality, ingenuity and style, the figures comparing with those adorning a perfume burner and garniture made for Madame Geoffrin (illustrated in Ottomeyer and Peter Pröschel, “Vergoldete Bronzen”, 1986, pp. 164-5). Of fairly humble origins, Gouthière was the son of a saddle maker who by the late 1770’s rose to become one of the greatest Parisian bronziers. Like a number of successful apprentices he married the widow of his employer François Cériset and consequently took over his business. In 1758 he was received as a maître doreur and in 1767 was appointed doreur du roi to Louis XV. His clientele also included the marquis de Marigny, d’Artois and the marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre. Gouthière’s repertoire included candelabra, wall-lights, chandeliers, vases, furniture, chimney pieces as well as mounts for porcelain and marble vases and clock cases the most notable being the famous Avignon clock in the Wallace Collection, 1871 (also with a Coteau dial). Success enabled Gouthière to lead an extravagant life style but after 1775 his finances began to suffer when certain ventures collapsed and two of his main patrons died. This and the 750,000 livres owed to him by Madame du Barry for nearly 20 years work finally forced him into bankruptcy in 1788. Despite his earlier success his work is very rare while the magnificent Avignon clock is the only known piece by him to have been signed. |