13,750 CHF
DEVILLAINE - DIRECTOIRE MANTEL CLOCK Devillaine à Paris. Made circa 1800. Very fine and rare, Directoire ormolu and marble, 8-day going, hour and half-hour striking, semi-skeletonized mantel clock. Two parallel semi-circular supports cast with repeated anthemion pattern and terminating in four cylindrical plinths, rectangular veined black marble base on four gilded feet, textured bezel, leaf and berry mount below the dial, eagle and leaf cresting. Annular white enamel with radial Roman numerals, outer minute track with Arabic 15-minute numerals, blue border decorated with gold trailing leaves. Gilt Directoire hands. 102 mm., circular plates with flat bottom, skeletonized front plate, going barrels for both trains, anchor escapement, silk suspension, pendulum with cast brass flower bob, striking on a bell. Dial signed. DIAM. 40 x 21 x 10.5 cm. Notes The Directoire style sometimes known as style ‘Messidor’ is the transitional style from the end of the reign of Louis XVI and the start of the Empire style around 1800. It is characterized by a mixture of motifs taken from both the Louis XV and Louis XVI periods resulting in a mixture of both the flamboyant and the restrained which suited horological pieces well A similar clock to the present model is illustrated in: Tardy, `La Pendule Française`, part II, p. 167. DEVILLAINE Recorded by Tardy as working in the Rue Neuve des Petits Champs in 1800.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2013-03-17
