Offered by Galerie Gilles Linossier
Work from the Louis XIV period
Large clock in Boulle pewter marquetry and red scale nets on a brass background.
Called "Doll's head" by its particular shape of swollen sides, it is composed of curves and counter-curves ending in volutes and rests on a rectangular ogee base supported by four lion's paws called "claw feet". It is topped with a rounded pediment, framed with red tortoiseshell and pewter fillets and finished in each corner with antique gilded bronze fire pots.
Although straighter forms dominate the Louis XIV style in the clock, the end of the rule of Louis XIV is also characteristic of these fiddle forms. They will impose themselves in the Regency and under Louis XV. This clock is therefore a precursor of the style to come and due to the meticulousness of the Boulle marquetry framed with red tortoiseshell and ebony fillets in the lower part, as well as the fineness of the carvings of the central gilded bronze ornamentation, we see great mastery of this work.
The dial is signed Louis Ourry A Paris and chiselled with arabesques and acanthus leaves as well as two eagle heads in the upper part. Composed of blue-on-white enamel Roman numerals defining the hours and chiseled Arabic numerals on the border, defining the minutes, it is also surmounted by a 12-digit roulette, rare in the production of clocks at that time.
The movement is also signed Louis Ourry in Paris. And the fund is attributed to André Charles Boulle.
Louis Ourry was one of the greatest watchmakers under Louis , he had among his clients rich personalities such as the President of Montholon.
His high-quality productions are still preserved today in very large museums, such as the Louvre Museum, the Château de Versailles or the Museum of Decorative Arts and the British Museum.
Doll's head clocks being finely crafted and richly decorated clocks, they were produced in particular for high society, in small quantities and several have been lost over the centuries. This model is therefore rare, in very good condition and in perfect working order.
Dimensions: H 58 cm x W 32.5 cm x D 19.5 cm
