French and English furniture : $b distinctive styles and periods described and illustratedSingleton, Esther
History
French and English furniture : $b distinctive styles and periods described and illustrated
Singleton, Esther
Furniture -- England; Furniture -- France
Two other clocks appear on Plate XXX. The full drawing is a _pendule
d’applique_, the frame of which is most ornate. It stands on a console
of carved and gilded copper. The detail No. 1 on the same plate is a
clock appropriate to stand on a bracket, chimney-piece or table. Its
frame consists of bold sweeps with a fine display of scrolls, leaves and
shells.
The Duc de Bourgogne owned a very fine clock of black marquetry and
copper, with ornaments of bronze in colour. On the top of the case, a
satyr was seated on a rock, holding a pipe in his left hand. The base
ended in rock-work, brightened with coloured copper ornaments. The dial
was of copper, the hours were enamelled, and the clock struck the hour
and half hour, and ran fifteen days. It was 2 feet, 11 inches high, and
the dimensions of the foot were 9½ inches high by 13 inches wide. Juhel
was the maker at Versailles.
Madame Henriette owned a clock in 1746 that was made by Jean-Baptiste
Baillon. It was 1 foot high and 6 inches wide. The case was of bronze
gilt _or moulu_ and carved with leaves and ornaments. Among the latter
were a lion’s head and a Cupid. The feet were of the console form. The
dial was enamelled.
Another, by the same maker, is described in 1745 as “a beautiful gilt
clock _or moulu_, the frame of which is enamelled and the hands of
bronze gilt, standing on two consoles, ornamented with palms, in the
centre of which is a woman’s masque. Mosaic ornaments decorate the
sides, as well as two bouquets of flowers. The top is surmounted by a
Cupid holding a scythe in his left hand. The foot is gilt bronze of
_rocaille_ work, flowers, plumes, two dragons and the head of Boreas.
Including the foot, it is 4 feet high and 14 inches wide.”
About this time, two of the King’s daughters bought a clock of bronze
gilt and porcelain, 21 inches high, made by Godin. On the front was a
shepherd with his dog, and a parrot perched on a gold tree, from which
hung several cherries. The base was an irregularly shaped cartouche
framed in leaves. The dial was enamelled and surmounted by a little
carved Bacchus.
The list of new furniture of Versailles for 1752 mentions a clock “in
the form of a lyre of bronze gilt _or moulu_, the lyre surmounted by a
sun and flanked on each side by two terms of women, ending in scrolls
that united at the base to form a sort of shield or cartouche of
_rocaille_, with festoons of leaves; the dial enamelled on copper gilt;
2 feet, 10 inches high, and 17 inches wide.”
In 1763, the King owned two splendid clocks, the cases of which were
violet-wood and rosewood veneered. One of the clocks was solar,
ornamented with attributes of Apollo in _or moulu_ and surmounted by a
perfume-box and ornamented with garlands. The other was lunar, with
symbols of Diana. It was also surmounted by a perfume-box, and was
ornamented by a star. Each clock was 7½ feet high and 21 inches wide.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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