A Louis XVI ormolu-mounted tulipwood regulateur de parquet attributed to Balthazar Lieutaud circa 1770, the dial and movement associated, the dial signed Robin and Dubuisson 1814

Cornelius Vanderbilt II, probably for 1 West 57th Street, New York City, and thence by descent in the family.

Dial with some minor chips to enamel at winding hole. With scattered age and construction cracks and abrasions. Veneer with scattered cracks, areas of buckling, some lifting and scattered losses; largest loss by far approx. 4in. by 0.5in. on side of bottom section with adjoining lifting to veneer in area. Carcass of bottom section with later inserted element on reverse; only visible from behind. Ormolu with oxidation and surface dirt overall; should enhance greatly with cleaning.
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The case for this regulator can be attributed to the ébéniste Balthazar Lieutaud (c. 1720-1780), maître in 1749, working in the rue de la Pelleterie, Île de la Cité. He produced long-case clocks in the neoclassical style between 1765 and 1770. The prototypes for this model are the long-case clocks by Lieutaud at Versailles and in the Frick Collection produced in 1767. The bronzes on the latter are signed by Caffieri the Elder (1714-74). The Frick example and another similar in the Wallace Collection are illustrated in A. Pradère, French Furniture Makers, 1989, p. 290 figs. 321 and 322, respectively. Another similar, by Lieutaud, at Hillwood Museum, is illustrated in French Furniture from the Collection of Hillwood Museum and Gardens, 2002, p. 34, fig. 13. Another, the movement by Robert Robin, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, see Tardy, French Clocks, Vol. 2, Paris, 1949, p. 160.