Property from an Esteemed European Collection
A rare Directoire gilt-bronze, enamel and white marble skeleton clock with revolutionary time and calendar, Bisson, Paris, circa 1795, the enamels by Joseph Coteau
Lot Closed
November 12, 02:40 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 GBP
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Read more.Lot Details
Description
5-inch enamel chapter ring with concentric date, conventional minutes and hours and revolutionary days of the week, finely pierced and engraved gilt time hands, blued steel centre seconds, a subsidiary chapter ring below with revolutionary and Gregorian months and revolutionary decimal hours and minutes, the movement with pin wheel escapement mounted on the backplate and with a large horizontal three-arm balance mounted below, conventional outside count wheel striking on a bell, the frame with ribbon-tied surmount above a detailed lunar dial and further mounted with finely painted and jewelled enamel panels, a signature panel signed Bisson A Paris and also inscribed to the rear Coteau, the marble plinth painted with foliage, on toupie feet; together with a giltwood stand and glazed cover,
Clock 44cm. 17¼in. high
Base and Cover 51cm. 20in. high
Acquired from the collection of Pascal Izarn, Paris.
P. Kjellberg, Encyclopédie de la Pendule Française du moyen age au XXe siècle, Paris, 1997, p.324 (illustrated).
Wannenes, Les plus belles pendules françaises, Florence, 2013, p.299 (and illustrated on cover).
A very similar skeleton clock by Bisson was sold Sotheby's Amsterdam, 29th October 2008, Lot 213.
Joseph Coteau (1740-1812) was possibly the most famous enameller of his day, supplying dials for the great clockmakers of France. Born in Geneva he became maître-peintre-émailleur at the Académie de Saint-Luc in Geneva in 1766. By 1772 he was installed in Rue Poupée, Paris. Coteau is celebrated not only for his dials but also as a skilled miniaturist. He discovered a new method for fixing raised gold on porcelain and worked closely with the Sèvres factory in developing their 'jewelled' porcelain.
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