A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED WHITE MARBLE STRIKING MANTEL CLOCK

THE MOVEMENT BY CRONIER, PARIS, THE CASE ATTRIBUTED TO JEAN HAURE, LAST QUARTER 18TH CENTURY

Details

A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED WHITE MARBLE STRIKING MANTEL CLOCK
THE MOVEMENT BY CRONIER, PARIS, THE CASE ATTRIBUTED TO JEAN HAURE, LAST QUARTER 18TH CENTURY
The case with figure of Chronos and putti flanking a broken fluted column engraved with 'HOMERE, VIRGILE. / VOLTAIRE, ROUSSEAU. / TEMPUS OMNIA VINCIT.', and with various attributes to the base, on turned feet, the white enamel dial with Roman and Arabic chapters, signed 'Cronier / A PARIS', the twin barrel movement with tic-tac escapement, silk suspension and countwheel strike to bell
15 in. (38 cm.) high; 12 ¼ in. (31 cm.) wide; 8 ¼ in. (21 cm.) deep

Lot Essay

Inscribed Time conquers all, this highly-sculptural clock can be attributed to Jean Hauré based on its proximity to a clock of the same composition engraved to the base with the name of Hauré and with a different inscription to that on the present clock, which translates as: The Immortal Genius survives throughout the Ages and Time, without fear, contemplating the devastation. The latter clock was formerly in the collection of the Rt. Hon. Lord Wharton and was recently sold from A Park Avenue Collection, Christie’s, New York, 17 April 2024, lot 59 ($37,800). Jean Hauré was a member of the Académie de St. Luc and became a maître-fondeur supplying furniture and ormolu objets d'art for the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne from 1785-88. Serving as Entrepreneur des Meubles de la Couronne from 1784 to 1791, he supervised furniture purchases of the Crown and the Garde-Meuble, including a pair of chairs by Boulard for Louis XVI's Salon des Jeux, sold Christie's, Paris, 21 November 2023, lot 5 (€239,400); a commode by Benneman for Madame Thierry de Ville d'Avray's bedroom in the Hôtel du Garde-Meuble and subsequently sent to Louis XVI's Cabinet du Conseil at the Tuileries Palace on May 15, 1792, sold Christie's, New York, 21 October 1997, lot 282 ($937,500); and a pair of figural chenets probably designed by Hauré himself, used in the Grand Cabinet of the Salon des Nobles de la Reine at Versailles. Having originally trained under Jean-Baptiste II Lemoyne, he was passionate about sculpture and he is recorded having shown figural clock case designs at an exhibition of the Académie at the Hôtel Jabach in 1774 and at another Salon in 1791.