A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU MANTLE CLOCK BY ROBERT OSMOND, CIRCA 1780, THE MOVEMENT SIGNED CHARLES LE ROY
Details
The dial with roman chapters, within an arched rectangular case of neoclassical form surmounted by a young girl and a winged putto holding a laurel wreath, the dial flanked by fluted volutes suspending floral garlands with flowers, grapes and other fruits, above a stepped and panelled base, the border cast with acanthus leaves, on a draped and tasseled plinth with turned feet, the plinth signed 'OSMOND', the dial replaced 16.5 in. (42 cm.) high; 153⁄4 in. (40 cm.) wide; 6 in. (15 cm.) deep
Lot Essay
Robert Osmond, maître-fondeur en terre et sable in 1746. This model is based on no. 77 in Osmond's Livre de Desseins of 1775, 'Piece a portail grande architecture avec 1 genie' (see H. Ottomeyer/P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 229). A closely related clock, the case also signed by Osmond, was supplied by the marchand-mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier in 1777 to Louis XVI's younger brother, the comte d'Artois, for the salon des jeux in his apartments at the Palais du Temple, Paris (see La Folie d'Artois, Paris, 1988, p. 108, fig. 18). Variations of the model were also used to adorn the tops of cartonniers and serre-papiers, an example of which is in the Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris (illustrated in P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dorées du XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 1987, p. 117, fig. 148). Another version of the model by Osmond, with black marble plinth, was supplie to Louis XVI for the Cabinet de la Pendule in Versailles, while a further example was sold Christie's New York, 19 March 1998, lot 157, ($38,000 exc. premium).
Details
The dial with roman chapters, within an arched rectangular case of neoclassical form surmounted by a young girl and a winged putto holding a laurel wreath, the dial flanked by fluted volutes suspending floral garlands with flowers, grapes and other fruits, above a stepped and panelled base, the border cast with acanthus leaves, on a draped and tasseled plinth with turned feet, the plinth signed 'OSMOND', the dial replaced 16.5 in. (42 cm.) high; 153⁄4 in. (40 cm.) wide; 6 in. (15 cm.) deep
Lot Essay
Robert Osmond, maître-fondeur en terre et sable in 1746. This model is based on no. 77 in Osmond's Livre de Desseins of 1775, 'Piece a portail grande architecture avec 1 genie' (see H. Ottomeyer/P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 229). A closely related clock, the case also signed by Osmond, was supplied by the marchand-mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier in 1777 to Louis XVI's younger brother, the comte d'Artois, for the salon des jeux in his apartments at the Palais du Temple, Paris (see La Folie d'Artois, Paris, 1988, p. 108, fig. 18). Variations of the model were also used to adorn the tops of cartonniers and serre-papiers, an example of which is in the Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris (illustrated in P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dorées du XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 1987, p. 117, fig. 148). Another version of the model by Osmond, with black marble plinth, was supplie to Louis XVI for the Cabinet de la Pendule in Versailles, while a further example was sold Christie's New York, 19 March 1998, lot 157, ($38,000 exc. premium).
