Beschreibung:

A gilt-bronze musical and automaton mantel clock, late Louis XVI, the mouvement signed Bourdier and dated 1817
patinated bronze and griotte marble, the head wearing a turban with plumed feathers, the eyes indicating the hours and the minutes, activated by pulling the right earring, the draped bust with a quiver and a bow to the back and a floral garland sash across the front, the pedestal on a stepped gilt bronze and marble breakfront base flanked by putti and containing an associated fusee musical movement activated by pulling the left earring and with a 6½in. pinned cylinder playing 7 airs on 14 bells with 25 hammers, the central frieze plaque depicting putti carrying game on a palanquin and flanked by musical trophies, the sides with caduceus and petasus, on gadrooned feet, (with later musical movement)height 30¼ in.; width 16½ in.; depth 8¾ in.; 77 cm; 42 cm; 23 cm.____________________________________________
Pendule musicale et automate, fin de l'époque Louis XVI, en bronze doré et patiné, marbre griotte, le mécanisme signé Bourdier et daté 1817
(le mécanisme musical postérieur)height 30¼ in.; width 16½ in.; depth 8¾ in.; 77 cm; 42 cm; 23 cm.Condition reportFor further information on the condition of this lot please contact jonathan.hills@sothebys.com LiteratureJ. Parker et al., Decorative art from the Samuel H. Kress Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Aylesbury 1964, p. 269.
P. Verlet, Les bronzes dorés français du XVIIIe siècle, Paris 1987.
J. D. Augarde, Les Ouvriers du Temps, Geneva 1996, p. 192 and p. 261, fig. 204.
G. de Bellaigue, 'The Works of Art', in Buckingham Palace and its treasures, New York, p. 160.
A. de Gaigneron, 'De Fleurs, de Lys, d'Ancres et d'Or', in Connaissance des Arts, n° 442, December 1988, p. 120-131.
C. Baulez, 'Pendule à la Négresse', Marie-Antoinette, exhibition catalogue, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais  Paris 2008, no. 149.
S. Castelluccio, 'L'appartement de l'intendant et contrôleur général du garde-Meuble de la Couronne à l'hôtel du Garde-Meuble, place Louis XV', in Bulletin de la société de l'Histoire de l'Art Français, 2008, p. 109-175.
J. Gautier, 'Le Garde-Meuble de la Couronne sous Thierry de Ville d'Avray' in De Versailles à Paris, Le Destin des Collections Royales, Paris 1989, p. 51-59.
J. Parker et al., Decorative art from the Samuel H. Kress Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Aylesbury 1964, p. 269.
J. Ramón Colón de Carvajal, Catálogo de relojes, Patrimonio Nacional, Madrid 1987, p. 70, n°53.Catalogue noteThe model for the present clock was recorded in Paris during the last quarter of the eighteenth century and mentioned in the 1784 memoirs of Louis Petit de Bachaumont. Therein he recounts a gathering in front of the shop of the clockmaker Jean-Baptiste Furet, by all those curious to see and admire three very original mantel clocks which reflected the most daring and costly ingenuities of the time. He described the design of the clock as representing a bust of a Negress, whose head was superbly made, traditionally very elegant in attire and with a great deal of richness and ornament and with a gold earring in each ear. By gently pulling one earring, the hour appears in the right eye with minutes showing in the left eye. When pulling the other earring, a sound is emitted in different consecutive tunes. At the time, this exciting encounter inspired the production of a few rare examples after this model.
The Mechanism
The bust on the present clock serves as a mantel clock and by pulling the earring suspended from the right ear it allows the eyes to scroll and show the hours and the minutes. When pulling the earring suspended from the left ear, melodies play from the musical box. The base, flanked by putti, contains an associated fusee musical movement. Horizontally disposed, this mechanism is a lever escapement movement of excellent execution and has a spiral annular balance. The hours are arranged in the head of the bust and a cog placed above the plate carries a range of thirty triangular teeth around the edge, with a spiral tooth in the centre with an hourly rotation and the minutes. This plate is vertical to the axis of the nose, flanked on either side by two white enamelled roundels and black lacquered circles with Roman digits for the hours and Arabic digits for the minutes. The digits appear white in colour except for digits 46 and 48 which are in black. When the left earring is pulled, the iris fades and the two roundels close, taking the place of the iris and allowing the reading of the hours and minutes. The mechanism is signed J.S. Bourdier and dated 1817 - most likely after a later restoration.
The relationship between Jean- Simon Bourdier (1760 – 1839) - Clock maker, Musical engineer & Restorer, Furet and Godon – clockmakers to the King and Martincourt – bronzier
Jean-Simon Bourdier was an artisan who made and repaired clocks. He received his status as Master clockmaker on 22 September, 1787 and is described as being one of the most ingenious clockmakers, musical engineers and restorers of his time. His awareness of this model of clock came about when he delivered clocks, through his association with François-Antoine Godon and Jean-Baptiste-André Furet to the Spanish Court, the same Godon and Furet whose signature is on a clock delivered to Marie Antoinette.
In 1784, Jean-Baptiste-André Furet took over his father's workshop, moved to Rue Saint-Honoré and joined François-Antoine Godon, whereupon they became clockmakers to the King. In 1786, Godon resided in Spain where he appears to have won the trust of the Prince of Asturias, the future King Charles IV, from whom he received the title, "Mechanic and clockmaker to the Chamber of His Catholic Majesty". His main task seems to have been to trade art and luxury goods, especially with Spain. Living back in Paris and frequently traveling to Madrid, Godon provided the Spanish Court with a large number of items made in Paris, i.e. Sèvres porcelain supplementing the Asturias service, clocks signed by him as well as paintings including the paintings from Revolutionary seizures and auctions.
In his research on Étienne Martincourt published in L'Objet d'Art in 2017, Christian Baulez illustrates decorative art, furniture and several clocks dating from 1780-1785, featuring bronzes by Martincourt, or pieces attributed to him. However, whilst putti, an aesthetic ornament frequently used during that era, along with arabesques and floral garlands, these were also widely employed by the cabinetmaker Jean Henri Riesener to adorn his furniture. A mantel clock of great richness by Furet and Godon, with bronzes attributed to Martincourt, displaying this collaboration with Riesener is in the Patrimonio Nacional Collections, Madrid (ill. J. Ramón Colón de Carvajal, op. cit.).
Rare clocks that belong to the most prestigious public and private collections:
- British Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace, acquired by the future King George IV in the 1820s, reproduced in the exhibition catalogue Carlton House: The Past Glories of George IV’s Palace, The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, 1991-1992, p. 80. White marble and movement by Lépine and Vulliamy (as restorer).- Samuel H. Kress Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (58.75.127, cf., former Collection of Baron Léopold Double, auction 29 May-1 June 1881, lot 74, Furet movement, (the music box on the pedestal has disappeared), illustrated in J. Parker, Decorative Art from the Samuel H. Kress Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1964, pp. 268-272., white marble.-An ormolu and patinated-bronze mounted, white and black marble musical and automaton mantel clock sold Sotheby’s, Paris on 11 December 2019, from the De Ribes Collection and was identified by Pierre Verlet in - Le Cabinet de l'Amateur, exh. cat. Orangerie des Tuileries, Paris 1956 and “On peut encore lire l'heure dans les yeux de la négresse de Marie-Antoinette”, in Connaissance des Arts of March 1956, as a presentation to Queen Marie Antoinette.-A similar clock, now in a private collection, the movement signed Furet and Godon, (illustrated in P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dorés Français du XVIIIe Siècle, Paris 1999, p.119), corresponds to a clock costing 4000 pounds and bought by the watchmaker Jean-Baptiste-André Ferret in 1784 for Queen Marie Antoinette. Pierre Verlet emphasizes that "of delicate maintenance”, it was repaired in 1787 by clockmaker Robert Robin - Another copy cited by J. Parker (op.cit.) is still part of the Marjorie Merriweather Post Collection, wife of Herbert A. May, at Hillwood, Washington. The movement has no signature (mentioned by J. Parker, op.cit.). It is believed that the model was specifically designed for the watchmaker Jean-Baptiste-André Ferret (around 1720-1807), whose signature is preserved on all copies of the Kress Collection and the ancient collection of Marie Antoinette. Archival documents found by Pierre Verlet highlight the complexity of the movement and the mechanism of the music box. The pendulum of the clock in the collection of Marie Antoinette was repaired by Robert Robin three years after its delivery and it is in light of these restorations that one must take into consideration the signature of Jean-Simon-Bourdier, with the date of 1817 on the present clock.