Lot 15: A GILT-BRONZE CARTEL CLOCK ATTRIBUTED TO JACQUES CAFFIÉRI (1678-1755), THE MOVEMENT SIGNED ETIENNE LE NOIR À PARIS LOUIS XV, CIRCA 1735

A GILT-BRONZE CARTEL CLOCK ATTRIBUTED TO JACQUES CAFFIÉRI (1678-1755), THE MOVEMENT SIGNED ETIENNE LE NOIR À PARIS LOUIS XV, CIRCA 1735 the gilt-bronze dial with Arabic and cartouche Roman blue numerals on a white ground, the cresting surmounted by a Cupid seated on a scallopshell and holding a trail of fruits and flowers, the left side cast with a dragon, the right side with a winged cherub, the apron with a scallopshell above an eagle, the case cast with rocaille, guilloche and foliage 82.5cm high, 48cm. wide; 2ft. 8½in., 1ft. 6¾in.

Comparative Literature:
Tardy, French Clocks the World Over, Part One, 5th Edition,1981, p. 200, plate XXXIX.
F. J. B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, Volume II, Furniture, Gilt-Bronze and Porcelain, New York, 1966, p. 563.

The superlative sculptural quality of the casting and chasing on this cartel clock with its luxuriant rocaille, flowers and foliage represent the apogee of the rococo and conceivably is the work of one of the leading bronziers of the period Jacques Caffiéri (1678-1755). His clocks convey the fluidity of movement with figures, cupids, dragons and eagles either precariously perched on top of the clock or clinging to the sides or apron. An attribution to him can be made of this magnificent cartel clock on the basis of the similarity to other clock cases made by him and his collaboration with Etienne Le Noir-see for example Tardy, op. cit., p. 200, plate XXXIX, for a cartel clock with a dial signed by le Noir and the case attributed to Caffiéri, the cresting surmounted by a Cupid with foliage and flowers.

Jacques Caffiéri (1678-1755):
He was a Parisian fondeur-ciseleur and sculptor and was elected maître fondeur-ciseleur shortly after 1715 and his earliest recored work was the design for a Pall for the Corporation of Fondeurs-Ciseleurs, commissioned in that year. From 1736 onwards, he was constantly in the employ of the French Crown being appointed fondeur-ciseleur des Batîments du Roi and producing works for Versailles, Fontainebleau, Choisy, Marly and other royal palaces. Caffiéri's work was in the extreme rococo style of which he was master according to F.J.B. Watson, op. cit., p. 563.

Etienne Lenoir (1699) received Master 1717-after 1778:
Between 1748 and 1778, he was established in a house on the Quai des Orfèvres, Parish of Saint-Barthélemy.