HANGING HANGER with THREE GRACE SCREENS with TURNING FRAME after CLODION in gilt bronze. The base in the shape of a circular column decorated with foliage and scrolls. The three graces after Clodion, standing, carrying a globe with a clock with...

HANGING HANGER with THREE GRACE SCREENS with TURNING FRAME after CLODION in gilt bronze. The base in the shape of a circular column decorated with foliage and scrolls. The three graces after Clodion, standing, carrying a globe with a clock with horizontal movement surmounted by a love. Quality work from the late 19th or early 20th century, in the Louis XVI style. Height. 52 cm. (mechanism to be revised, small accidents and lacks) Provenance: private collection, Cagnes-sur-Mer. Clock with the three graces with a revolving dial after Clodion. The model of the Clock with the Three Graces was designed at the end of the 1760s by the bronzier François Vion and the watchmaker Jean-André Lepaute, according to a drawing now kept at the Institut national d'Histoire de l'Art in Paris. The composition and ornamentation fully regain the taste for Antiquity that has been developing since the 1750s, thanks in particular to the Marquis de Marigny's trip to Italy. Taking up the freshness of the composition of Clodion's Three Graces, itself inspired by Germain Pilon's group for the monument in the heart of Henri II, this clock offers a neo-classical repertoire achieved through the winding consoles and laurel wreaths. The first copy of this clock "gilded with Germain gold" was delivered by the merchant Simon-Philippe Poirier to the Countess du Barry in 1769 for the sum of 2,400 pounds. Seized in 1794, the clock seems to have entered the collections of Générale Moreau. It was removed in 1804 to be repaired by its designer and placed in the Château de Fontainebleau, as indicated in the memoir of the 15th frimaire year XIII (6 December 1804). Initially placed in the Emperor's bathroom, the Three Graces finally adorned the salon of the Prince's Apartment between 1807 and 1810. It was not until 1900, for the Universal Exhibition in Paris, that it was presented to the general public. It seems in this sense that our clock produced was directly inspired by the first copy, which returned to Fontainebleau today after its exhibition until 1986 in the Louvre. In addition to the Lepaute copy, similar clocks were delivered as early as the 18th century by Gudin, Montjoye or Dutertre. Automatically translated by DeepL. To see the original version, click here.