Lot n° 159
Estimation :
12000 - 18000
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 15 456EUR
Parquet regulator inlaid with wide amaranth friezes underlin - Lot 159
Parquet regulator inlaid with wide amaranth friezes underlined by double brass fillets; violin-shaped, the head containing the movement, the plate signed "François Duchesne à Paris", it features a later enameled dial indicating the hours in Roman numerals, the minutes in increments of five and the date in Arabic numerals, and also bears an auxiliary dial for the seconds. Richly decorated with chased and gilded bronze, with an allegory of Time, a Chinese mascaron, leafy crosses, rosettes...
Attributed to Charles Cressent.
Regency period.
H : 226 - W : 59 - D : 18 cm
Bibliography
- Alexandre Pradère, Charles Cressent sculpteur, ébéniste du Régent, Editions Faton, Dijon, 2003, p.305, catalog no. 265 (illustrated under figure 264).
- Sophie Mouquin, Pierre IV Migeon 1696-1758, Au coeur d'une dynastie d'ébénistes parisiens, Les éditions de l'Amateur,
Paris, 2001, p.118 (illustrated).
Although it bears neither signature nor stamp, this important regulator can be unequivocally linked to the work of Charles
Cressent. Indeed, its overall composition, the veneers used and its original chased and gilded bronze decoration are all decisive factors in this attribution. Alexandre Pradère's biography of this craftsman methodically studies the career of Cressent who, in addition to "classical" furniture such as commodes, flat desks, bookcases, corner cabinets, armoires, medallions...he also specialized, like his famous colleague André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732), in the production of furniture bronzes and sculptures, mainly commissioned by the great collectors for whom Cressent worked, demonstrating his exceptional creativity and the consistently impeccable quality of his castings. This led to numerous conflicts with the c or por a t ion of master bronze-makers, governed by the strict laws of the old Parisian guilds, whose members held the exclusive right to work in bronze. Nevertheless, Cressent continued to cast his own bronze models in his workshop, which enabled him to protect his ownership. This particularity, certainly obtained and preserved thanks to the support of Cressent's powerful patrons such as the Regent, lends the cabinetmaker-sculptor's creations an ornamental or sculptural aesthetic so distinctive that it is his true signature.
In watchmaking, Cressent applied the same decorative principles, favoring the play of veneers or marquetry embellished with superbly chased gilded or varnished bronzes. He also adapted perfectly to the revival of the decorative arts at the end of the reign of Louis XIV, designing cases for clocks, cartels and regulators, which contributed to his exceptional renown during the Regency and the first decades of the reign of Louis XV. In the case of regulators, the cabinetmaker created a type of violoné case, which he produced in three different types, varying the veneers (mainly amaranth and satinwood) and playing with bronze ornamentation. Today, some fifteen examples are listed and belong to the most important international private and public collections.
The first type is embellished with two Boreas heads under the dial and a sculptural figure of Time at the amortization; two examples of this model belong to the collections of the Queen of England (illustrated in C. Jagger, Royal Clocks, The British Monarchy & its Timekeepers 1300-1900, London, 1983, p.126, figs.169-170); as well as a third on display at the Musée du Louvre in Paris (reproduced in D. Alcouffe,
A. Dion-Tenenbaum and A. Lefébure, Le mobilier du Musée du Louvre,
Tome 1, Editions Faton, Dijon, 1993, p.124, catalog no. 38). It should also be noted that a clock of this model was offered at auction in Paris in February 1761, when the collection of the powerful Marine treasurer Marcellin-François de Selle, a great admirer of Cressent's works, was dispersed.
Cressent's works: "Une pendule à secondes, très estimée des connaisseurs, faite par Ferdinand Berthoud ; elle marque les équations par elle-même, seconde minute d'équation, le tout concentré ; sa boîte qui a 6 pieds et demi de haut, est garnie de bronzes dorés d'or moulu, de la composition du sieur Cressent ; above the box containing the movement, is a winged figure representing time, holding its faulx; this figure is in the round, of a fine model and perfectly well repaired; two heads in relief, representing winds, are at the bottom of the box.
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