Louis XV cartel by Aubert, valet de chambre and watchmaker to the King, circa 1750

Rocaille cartel of the Louis XV period in gilded bronze, with openwork sides, dominated by a figure of a divinity (who must have been holding her attribute in her right hand). Seated on a cloud, she seems to answer to the two loves who are at the end, also fluttering on a cloud.

Born at a time when the intimacy of private life is imposed to the detriment of public pomp, the rocaille style is carried by noble sponsors, but also by rich bourgeois able to build and furnish sumptuous mansions.
Contrary to other styles which are defined by systems of proportions or references to more ancient periods such as Antiquity, the rocaille style is based on ornamentation and is composed of figurative forms assembled together with fantasy as is the case on our cartel.

The box surrounded by two rocaille is underlined on the edges of flowered and leafy branches. The still frankly rocaille style of this cartel seems quite characteristic of the phase of softening that we observe at the end of the blooming of this style, with a very clear return to symmetrical forms.

The movement is in perfect condition and has an original escapement with a meeting wheel (also called a verge escapement). It strikes the hours and half-hours on a gong.

Signed on the dial and the back plate by "Aubert à Paris". Master clockmaker in Paris, he was appointed valet de chambre clockmaker to the King in 1737. Aged 34 and widowed, he remarried in 1739 and asked for Bidault's vacant apartment at the Galeries du Louvre where he settled.

Parisian work circa 1750,
Movement in perfect working condition, revised and guaranteed.

Height: 54 cm.
Width: 36 cm.