Clock
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Clock in the form of a celestial globe. A gilt bronze clock of pyramidal design chased with scrolled foliage, which rests on a splayed serpentine base. The case is surmounted by a blue celestial globe decorated with gold stars, which is mounted at the equator with a rotating band with enamel cartouches for the hours set at an angle. The globe is crowned by a figure of Dawn (Aurora) pointing to the hour. The maker's name, Caffieri, is inscribed in a cartouche below the globe. Below is the white enamel minute-dial with a blue chapter ring and Arabic numerals set at 5-minute intervals. The dial is protected by a convex glass set in a chamfered gilt bronze bezel. The winding hole is above the 30-minute mark and the regulation in the cartouche above the dial. In front of a glass pane below the dial, there is a figure of Venus seated on a cloud with Cupid.
The round four-pillar timepiece movement has a later 19th-century Brocot suspension and sunburst pendulum. The drive to the hour and the date bands are transmitted through the back plate and via two 36-toothed flat wheels engaging at right angles within the dome.
This clock combines the work of three of the most talented craftsmen of 18th-century Paris. The case - with its wind-blown leaf fronds, boldly punched patterns, and flowing figures of Aurora, Venus and Cupid - is the work of the bronze founders and chasers Jacques Caffiéri and his eldest son Philippe.
The two worked together from 1747 to 1755, creating spectacular clock cases, such as the large astronomical clock for Versailles, as well as bronze furniture mounts, chandeliers, and portrait busts for both royal and private patrons. The enamel work on the dial and on the globe is by Antoine-Nicolas Martinière who worked for the King and Madame de Pompadour. He also collaborated with several clockmakers including one of the leading horologists of the day, Julien Leroy, who made this clock's movement.
Leroy gained prestigious lodgings in the Louvre in 1739 on the basis that he could save French clockmaking from English competition. He made many things for the King including a cartel clock with a woman pointing out the hours, as the flying figure representing Dawn does here. However there is no evidence to indicate if it was the same model as the Waddesdon clock. An inventory of the Caffiéri workshop taken in 1749 suggests that the gilder was Jean-Barthélemy Autin. The division of labour evident in this clock was a result of the prohibitions laid down by the guilds, allowing craftsmen and women to perform only specific tasks. Such specialisation did, however, allow artists to achieve the highest standards in their respective fields.
The clock must post-date February 1747 as there is no mention of this clock-case model in an inventory of Jacques Caffiéri's stock of models made in that month. An inventory dated 7 May 1749, taken on the death of Philippe's wife, records that Julien Leroy owed the Caffiéris 180 livres, which may have been the balance owned on the clock case (see Bellaigue, 1974).
Phillippa Plock, 2012
Dimensions (mm) / weight (mg)
Case: 795 x 470 x 419
Marks
PARI / I
Stamp
on the back of the pendulum's sunburst
1482
Stamp
on the back of the pendulum's bob
Inscriptions
otez Cette plaque / et Le pignion de roue / de Cadran, Voyez si / Le Cerle [sic] horairs / est Libre, Ensuitte / remetez Le tout
Inscription
on gilt-bronze plaque on the back of the upper segment of the globe
1749
Inscription
on the mainspring
[Rubard ?]
Inscription
on the mainspring
Jeanvin
Inscription
on the mainspring
Translation of inscription
take away the plaque and the wheel pinion of the dial. See if the hour circle is free. Finally replace everything
Provenance
- Owned by Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon (b.1831, d.1890); probably by descent to his son George Edward Stanhope Molyneux, 5th Earl of Carnarvon (b.1866, d.1923), Bretby, Derbyshire: acquired by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild (b.1839, d.1898) from the Carnarvon collection at Bretby; inherited by his sister Alice de Rothschild (b.1847, d.1922); inherited by her great-nephew James de Rothschild (b.1878, d.1957); bequeathed to Waddesdon (National Trust) in 1957.
Exhibition history
- 'Three French Reigns', 1933, 25 Park Lane, London, no. 520
Collection
- Waddesdon (National Trust)
- Bequest of James de Rothschild, 1957
Bibliography
- ♦; Three French Reigns (Louis XIV, XV & XVI) Loan Exhibition in Aid of the Royal Northern Hospital; 25 Park Lane, London, 21 February - 5 April 1933; London; Royal Northern Hospital; 1933; no. 520, ill. p. 90.
- Jean-Louis Vaudoyer, Une exposition d'art français a Londres, L'Illustration, 04 March 1933, 254; p. 254.
- Geoffrey de Bellaigue, Anthony Blunt; Furniture Clocks and Gilt Bronzes: The James A de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor; 2 vols; Fribourg; Office du Livre; 1974; pp. 78-83, cat. no. 10, ill.
- Geoffrey de Bellaigue; French Porcelain in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen; 3 vols; London; Royal Collection Enterprises Ltd.; 2009; vol. 2, p. 445, fig. 102.3.
Related files
- Entry from (Bellaigue, 1974):, http://api.waddesdon.org.uk/docs/furniture/2278.pdf
Subjects
- Mythology/Gods & Goddesses/Aurora
- Mythology/Gods & Goddesses/Venus
- Mythology/Gods & Goddesses/Cupid
- Figures/Child
- Figures/Female
- Figures/Group
- Decorative Motifs & Patterns/Leaf Motifs
- Nature, Landscape & The Elements/Clouds
- Nature, Landscape & The Elements/Flowers/Tulip
- Decorative Motifs & Patterns/Sun, Moon or Star Motifs
- Decorative Motifs & Patterns/Scroll Motifs