A Louis XVI gilt-bronze “à rubans du grand modèle” cartel clock, circa 1780, the bronze signed by Robert Osmond, the dial and the movement signed Denis Masson

Collection of the Rochechouart de Mortemart Family.

RELATED LITERATURE:

S. Eriksen, Early Neo-Classicism in France, London, 1974, pl. 196, p. 347

H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen. Die Bronzearbeiten des Spätbarock und Klassizismus, Munich, vol. 1, 1986, p. 184-185, fig. 3.8.8 et 3.8.11

J.J. Gauthier and B. Rondot, Le château de Versailles raconte le Mobilier national, quatre siècles de création, Paris, 2011, p. 106 and 107

Denis Masson, clockmaker, received master in 1746.

Robert Osmond, bronze maker, received master in 1746. Juror of the founders' guild in 1756, he was among the leading exponents of the Neoclassical style during the 1760s. He was assisted by his nephew, also a bronzier, who succeeded him following his death in 1789.

This bracket clock was based on a drawing from the Livre de desseins by Pierre-Antoine Foullet and Robert Osmond, held at the Bibliothèque Jacques Doucet (inv. VI E 15, fol. 36-39), and illustrated in H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, vol. I, Munich, 1986, p. 184, fig. 3.8.8.

One example of this cartel was delivered to Madame Victoire's bedroom at Versailles on 19 December 1767, under the description « une pendule…La boëte en cartel de bronze doré d'or moulu, orné par le haut d'une tete de femme surmonté d'un vaze à l'antique terminé d'une flamme liée par un ruban qui perce des deux cotez et par le bas d'une guirlande de feuilles de laurier. Le pied terminé par une gaine, ayant 17 pouces de large sur 32 pouces de haut » (Archives Nationales, O1 3318), and another delivered to the dauphin, future Louis XVI, in 1770.

Other examples of this famous model are held in prestigious collections, including the Musée Nissim de Camondo (inv. CAM 13.1), the Château de Versailles (inv. GML 7722) and the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (inv. 100/1919).