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pendule de cheminée
Mantel Clock
pendule de cheminée
Probably made by: François Ageron (master 1741?, died after 1783)
French (Paris)
Louis XVI
about 1775
Medium/Technique
Gilt bronze; white marble; Sèvres soft-paste porcelain column; enameled metal dial; steel; miniature on ivory (?)
Dimensions
34.8 x 25.7 x 15.7 cm (13 11/16 x 10 1/8 x 6 3/16 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Forsyth Wickes—The Forsyth Wickes Collection
Accession Number65.2236
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
DescriptionClock, mounted in a truncated fluted green and white porcelain column, dial encased within a gilt bronze garland. A nymph in the manner of Flaconet stands at the left, holding a medallion believed to be a portrait of Marie Antoinette that rests on top of the column. At the right a seated putto, teaching tricks to a dog. The column and figures rest on a marble plinth with half round ends and a frieze of gilt bronze. Movement by Ageron.
Signed
Dial painted Ageron A/Paris probably for Francois Ageron.
Provenance1782, probably Marie-Josephine de Laguerre (b. 1755 - d. 1783), Paris; April 10, 1782, probably de Laguerre sale, Paris, lot 28 [see note 1]. Baron Alphonse de Rothschild (b. 1827 - d. 1905), Paris [see note 2]. By 1933, Chester Beatty (b. 1875 - d. 1968), Dublin [see note 3]; November 15, 1955, Beatty sale, Sotheby's, London, lot 131. 1956, Morton Lee, London; January 18, 1956, sold by Lee to Forsyth Wickes (b. 1876 - d. 1964), New York and Newport, RI; 1965, bequest of Forsyth Wickes to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 24, 1965)
NOTES:
[1] This is one of several clocks of similar design. The description of lot 28 in the Laguerre catalogue matches that of the MFA clock, naming Ageron as the maker; his name is painted on the dial of the MFA example. [2] See the 1955 Beatty auction catalogue ("Catalogue of the Important Collection of Sèvres Porcelain, the Property of Sir Chester Beatty," Sotheby, London, November 15, 1955, p. 40, lot 131). [3] Mrs. Chester Beatty lent the clock to the exhibition "Three French Reigns (Louis XIV, XV, & XVI)," Royal Northern Hospital, London, February 21 - April 5, 1933, cat. no. 225.
NOTES:
[1] This is one of several clocks of similar design. The description of lot 28 in the Laguerre catalogue matches that of the MFA clock, naming Ageron as the maker; his name is painted on the dial of the MFA example. [2] See the 1955 Beatty auction catalogue ("Catalogue of the Important Collection of Sèvres Porcelain, the Property of Sir Chester Beatty," Sotheby, London, November 15, 1955, p. 40, lot 131). [3] Mrs. Chester Beatty lent the clock to the exhibition "Three French Reigns (Louis XIV, XV, & XVI)," Royal Northern Hospital, London, February 21 - April 5, 1933, cat. no. 225.