Footnotes

• The original of 1775-90 was created by clockmaker Jean-Baptiste Lepaute (1727-1802), modeled by Louis Simon Boizot (1743-1809), and possibly cast by founder Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751-1843). An example is now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and displayed in the Tessé Room of the French Decorative Arts gallery.
  
  The present clock and pedestal recall the work of Henry Dasson (1825-1896), in the vigorous yet graceful modeling of the figures, as well as the use of fine, richly colored marble as a jeu de formes et de lumière with the gilt bronze mounts.
  
  First recorded in the Paris business almanac in 1858 as a maker of bronze clock parts, Dasson soon extended his activities to include gilt bronze mounts for furniture and decorative objects. In 1867, he purchased the stock of bronzier Carl Drechsler, thus also obtaining the models and stock of the celebrated bronzemaker Charles Crozatier, whose atelier Drechsler had taken over some years earlier. Four years later, Dasson's purchase of the stock and manufacturing materials of ébéniste Charles-Guillaume Winckelsen enabled him to announce the creation of a firm specializing in the fabrication of meubles de luxe.
  
  Upon Henry Dasson's retirement in 1894, he elected to sell his bronze models and other stock at auction. The sale lasted for eight days, and his bronze models were purchased by the leading furniture and bronze makers of the day, including Zwiener, Krieger, Beurdeley, Linke, Baguès, and Sormani.

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Category: Furniture / European Furniture and Works of Art

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