Footnotes

Provenance:
Private French Collection;
Weschler's Auctioneers, Rockville, Maryland, 20 February 2015, lot 213, (USD 76,000);
Estate of Guy Martin, Jr., by inheritance from:
Edith Kingdon Gould (1920-2004);
Kingdon Gould, Sr. (1887-1945);
George Jay Gould I (1864-1923).

Related Literature:
Peter Fuhring, Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier, Un génie du rococo 1695-1750, 1999, pp.175-179.
J.Aronson, Encyclopedia of Furniture, 3rd Edition, 1965, p.220
A. Pradère, Les ébénistes Français de Louis XIV à la Révolution, Paris, 1989, p.134, fig. 96.

The horloge de parquet presented here belongs to a small group of at least two other related horloges de parquet called 'à la lyre' known at the present time.
The most celebrated one being originally in the collection of the 18th century painter Charles-Antoine Coypel, who became premier peintre du roi after his father's death in 1722, and Director of the Académie Royale in 1747. In the sale following the death of Charles-Antoine Coypel in 1753, lot 579 was recorded as : 'Une pendule à secondes qui donne l'heure du temps vrai, la course du soleil, le jour et la date de la semaine, le mouvement est de Monsieur Claude Martinot et la caisse de Monsieur Meissonnier'. During that sale, it was purchased by the eminent French horologist Julien LeRoy, who then resold it a few years after. This horloge is presently conserved in the collection of the French group AXA, in the Hôtel de la Vaupalière in Paris. It is interesting to note that the case is described as being conceived by Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier (1695-1750) who must have designed this horloge de parquet circa 1725-27. The complicated astronomical movement of the Coypel horloge de parquet is signed 'Claudius Martinot / invenit, et fecit.' and dated 1727.

The second related horloge de parquet, stamped by François Duhamel was sold on 9 July 1931 at Christie's London. Very much similar in form, the Christie's horloge shares the same if not identical sea monster pierced stylised shell motif to the lower section as our horloge, as well as the lyre ormolu cords, but with a few other differences in the ormolu scheme, and without the bust depicting Louis XIV found on our horloge. Both ormolu groups to the top of the movement cases differ from each other, our horloge is headed by a group depicting Diana the huntress, while the Coypel's example is mounted with a group depicting 'Amour et Psyche' and the Christie's clock stamped by the ébéniste Duhamel (maître ébéniste in 1750) is headed by a group of cherubs playing. It is conceivable that Duhamel was fascinated by the earlier and very innovative Meissonnier's lyre-shaped design and decided to reproduce it a few decades after, since his maîtrise dates from 1750. Christie's 1931 horloge was most probably later on in the French & Co. collection, as illustrated in J.Aronson, Encyclopedia of Furniture, 3rd Edition, 1965, p.220. The horloge was subsequently sold at Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 9 October 1971, lot 147. And most probably the same one sold again at Bonhams New York, 24 April 2013, lot 1143.

The Duhamel stamp is equally present alongside that of Balthazar Lieutaud on a related régulateur conserved in the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris. However, more Louis XV in treatment, another two almost identical models as the one in the Musée des Arts et Métiers are stamped respectively Jacques Dubois and attributed to Jacques Pierre Latz, showing the difficulties of attributions and of the paternity of the designs and makers.

An 18th century engraving reproduced here (Bibliothèque de l'Ensba, 22620, f.43) depicts the model of our horloge de parquet, with only minor differences. Unfortunately, the border of this design is slightly cut out, therefore no inscription, signature nor engraver is visible. It is however plausible to assume that the engraving could be that of Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier, before 1727, as his name is mentioned in the sale description of the horloge sold from the Coypel sale. Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier (1695-1750), born in Turin, was a goldsmith, sculptor, painter, architect and most of all a furniture designer. He owes his extravagant decorative style to his italian origins and mastered the flamboyant style of rococo like no one else. Meissonnier worked his whole life in Paris where he became appointed by Louis XV as Dessinateur de la chambre et du cabinet du roi. His books of design: Livres d'ornements en trente pièces, and Ornements dela carte chronologique are conserved in the collection of the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

The ormolu group of Diana the huntress which is on our horloge above the clock case appears to be a group often used by Charles Cressent (1685-1768) on other pieces of furniture he has executed, as on the pendule Crozat, and on various cartonniers attributed to him. Cressent was known to have designed and produced his own ormolu mounts for his furniture; this upset some of his fellow ébénistes as well as the corporation of the fondeurs-ciseleurs and for this reason, he had constant problems with the corporations and was sued various times.
Known to excel in the manufacturing of longcase clocks, Cressent produced related cases to the horloge de parquet here presented, such as the Régulateur de parquet veneered in bois satiné, amaranth and parquetry, with its ormolu Chronos cresting in the English Royal Collection (RCIN30035), illustrated in A. Pradère, Les ébénistes Français de Louis XIV à la Révolution, Paris, 1989, p.134, fig. 96.

The only present estampille on our horloge de parquet is that of E.J.Cuvellier. A rather unknown ébéniste whose stamp is found only on a few pieces of furniture, some of them being important. Not mentioned in 1953 on the Salverte book of Les ébénistes du XVIIIème siècle, Cuvellier has been more recently discovered to have worked during the second half of the 18th century. Due to the diversity of style of the few pieces of furniture bearing his stamp, it has been assumed that he often acted more as a restorer than as a maker. Cuvellier's stamp is for instance to be found, among other pieces, on an ebony eight-leg bureau plat (closely related to the celebrated bureau plat of Lalive de July, attributed to Joseph Baumhauer), formerly in the collection of Sir Anthony de Rothschild (sold Hôtel Georges V, Paris, 15 November 1983, lot 46). It can be therefore assumed that as well on our horloge de parquet, Cuvellier must have acted as a restorer, as no other such piece is known to have been made by Cuvellier, while the form, veneer and ormolu scheme is much more in line with the production of Cressent.

George Jay Gould I (1864-1923), was a financier and son to Jay Gould, the railroad magnate, one of the richest fortune of the Gilded Age America, leading the Denver and Rio Grande Western railroad as well as the Western Pacific Railroad. A notorious art collector, George inherited in 1892 the Gould fortune and his father's railroad holdings.