74,750 CHF
Pendule à l’enfant Breguet et Fils, 2425, bronze by Thomire, sold to Monsieur Labinski on February 20, 1809 for 1,400 francs. Extremely rare and fine gilt bronze two-week going table clock. Gilt bronze figure of a kneeling infant holding the clock in his raised hands, round gilt bronze base, gilt bronze bezel decorated in acanthus-leaf pattern. White enamel, radial Roman numerals, outer minute divisionswith fifteen-minute Arabic markers, winding aperture at 6, gilt ring in the center. Blued steel Breguet hands. Circular, brass, going barrel, platform with overhanging ruby cylinder escapement, three-arm balance, blued steel flat balance spring.Dial and platform signed.Dim: Height 45 cm, base 15 cm. Notes This clock represents a departure from the type of work Breguet is mostly known for - watches, carriage clocks, and precision timekeepers. He did however make a small number of other clocks featuring finely sculpted bronzes, the majority of which were made by the celebrated Pierre-Philippe Thomire. The Paris museum of Arts and Métiers has several in its collection; one is in the Royal collection in Buckingham Palace. Pierre-Philippe Thomire 1751-1843 a sculptor, bronze-worker, caster and chaser, he was the son of chaser Luc Philippe Thomire. He studied at the Académie de Saint-Luc with Houdon and Pajou, then with the chaser Gouthière, whose work influenced Thomire until the First Empire. Troubled by financial difficulties, and unreliable in delivering his commissions on
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2004-11-14
