BOULLE PENDULE “AUX HARPIES” Louis XIV, Paris, circa 1710. Signed “Baltazar Martinot à Paris” (Balthazar Martinot, 1636–1714). Based on a model by André-Charles Boulle (1642–1732).

BOULLE PENDULE “AUX HARPIES”

Louis XIV, Paris, circa 1710. Signed “Baltazar Martinot à Paris” (Balthazar Martinot, 1636–1714). Based on a model by André-Charles Boulle (1642–1732).
Slightly curved and waisted trapezoidal wooden case veneered with brown-backed tortoiseshell and brass stringing. Oval domed top "à dôme", surmounted by a figure of the infant Zeus. The lower corners mounted with bronzes in the form of harpies, terminating in scroll feet. Gilt-bronze mounts in the form of friezes, palmettes, a mask, putti and vases. Relief-cast bronze dial with a profile portrait of Louis XIV and white enamel cartouches with Roman hour numerals. Movement with anchor escapement and half-hour strike on a bell. On a flat plinth (probably associated). Pendulum and key missing.
53 × 23 × 91(102) cm.
Movement to be checked; movement and case probably later associated. Losses to the marquetry and bronze mounts.

Provenance:
- Christie’s auction, London, June 4, 2014, Lot 501.
- German private collection, acquired at the above auction.

Cf. a clock with a very similar case in Tardy, "La Pendule française", Paris 1974, p. 109, no. 3. Ottomeyer/Pröschel mention a design by Jean Bérain for a longcase clock, clock, vases and incense burners, produced in Paris circa 1690. The clock is of similar design, particularly the distinctive harpy feet (cf. Ottomeyer/Pröschel, "Vergoldete Bronzen", Munich 1989, vol. 1, p. 48, no. 1.5.1).
An almost identical clock, differing only in the surmounting figure and the design of the door and likewise with a domed top, is in the Royal Collection in London (inv. no. RCIN 30004). It stands on a tall pedestal attributed to André-Charles Boulle. An earlier variant of the model, more closely following Bérain’s original design with a waisted top, is illustrated in Ottomeyer/Pröschel, p. 487 (no. 15b).

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