A Louis XIV clock, attributed to André-Charles Boulle, the movement signed CDG Mesnil in Paris, late 17th/early 18th century

Formerly collection of Baron Alphonse de Rothschild;

Sotheby's London, 24 November 1972, lot 2;

Formerly collection of Baron Guy de Rothschild at the Château de Ferrières;

Sotheby's Monaco, 3 December 1994, lot 40;

Sotheby's Paris, 16 October 2007, lot 89.

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Ancienne collection du baron Alphonse de Rothschild;

Sotheby's Londres, le 24 novembre 1972, lot 2;

Ancienne collection du baron Guy de Rothschild au château de Ferrières, Sotheby's Monaco, 3 décembre 1994, lot 40;

Sotheby's Paris, 16 octobre 2007, lot 89.

This famous model, of which there are a number of examples, can be attributed to André Charles Boulle with complete certainty. In addition to the various 18th century sales catalogues which attribute it to Boulle (Lemarié sale on 5 September 1776, lot 30; Vaudreuil sale on 26 November 1787, lot 368; Boullongne sale on 18 November 1787, lot 261; Lebrun sale on 11 April 1791, lot 781... ), we find it mentioned in the latter's inventory after his death in 1732: "n°17-a box containing the models of the clock of M. Desmarais whose recumbent time is of M. Girardon weighing together 23 pounds"; and "n°88, the models of a recumbent time clock of M. Girardon weighing sixteen and a half pounds...". The model had already been mentioned earlier in Boulle's deed of gift to his sons in 1715: "a time pandulum box similar to that of M. Desmaretz preste à dorer" (Samoyault, op. cit. p.67). The person for whom Boulle had created this model was Nicolas Desmaretz, controller general of finances, whose Parisian hotel on rue Saint Marc contained a good number of Boulle's furniture and clocks (see Samoyault, op. cit. p. 172). This first model certainly had a gilt-bronze dial with the round of loves as on the clock presented here. Indeed, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris holds a Boulle design (partially reproduced above) for this clock with precisely this type of dial. Subsequently, clocks of this model will have enamel and gilt bronze dials or entirely enamel dials like the one in the Rouen museum. Boulle and Girardon had a close relationship as they were both neighbours at the Louvre and in 1682 Girardon's daughter was the godmother of Boulle's first daughter. Boulle also used the services of the greatest sculptors of his time: Coustou, who made the famous Parques clock; Desjardins, with whom Boulle made the bronzes for the Dauphin's fireplace in Meudon in 1699; and Van Opstal, François Flamand, and Jean Varin, whose terracotta models were cited when the workshop burned down in 1720.

Claude Du Grand Mesnil, a clockmaker who was awarded a master's degree in 1716, set up in the rue des Arrivans in 1715 and then on the Pont au Change under the sign of "la Pendule" in 1720. He collaborated with the merchant Hebert, supplying him in particular with movements for André-Charles Boulle's cases.

His name can be found on other Boulle clocks such as the one in the Salon Ovale of the Palais Soubise (see Vergoldete Bronzen, vol II, p. 481).