Clocks
See also : Time instruments Old clocks Mechanical craft ca 1800 Patek Philippe Cartier Ancient England British Royals Colonial America Louis XVIII to 2nd Empire Ancient French furniture Silverware
Chronology : 1680-1699 1770-1779 1830-1839
Chronology : 1680-1699 1770-1779 1830-1839
1677 The Grandfather Escapement
2012 SOLD 1.27 M£ including premium
The use of oscillating pendulums in instruments for measuring time was invented by Christiaan Huygens in the late 1650s. The English will be the pioneers in the manufacture of these pendulum clocks.
Not only it was one of the most useful of all inventions but also, by raising the skills of the mechanical craftsmen, it was certainly a key to the start of the industrial revolution.
Joseph Knibb, who worked in London since 1670, was one of those masters of the time. Skilled clockmaker, he was a precursor and perhaps one of the inventors of the anchor escapement, a basic accessory designed to ensure the isochrony of the pendulum as a function of the deflection angle.
Back to the beginnings of his career. The horological collection of the watchmaker George Daniels, which will be dispersed on November 6 in London by Sotheby's, includes two clocks made by Joseph Knibb, in ebony, with Roman numerals on the dial.
The most luxurious, dated 1677, has the shape already usual in his time of the table clock, a cube with a handle. It is estimated £ 600K.
The other, made around 1685, is a longcase clock, or in a more familiar wording, a grandfather clock. This type of model is an early easy approach to improve the accuracy thanks to the lengthening of the pendulum. It is estimated £ 200K.
Here is already the link to the announcement of the sale.
Here are the links to the catalogue for the table clock and for the longcase clock.
POST SALE COMMENT
Clocks made by Joseph Knibb were the stars of the George Daniels collection of ancient clocks.
The table clock discussed above was sold £ 1.27 million, and another less luxurious example reached £ 340K. The grandfather clock has not been sold.
Among other makers, let us mention at £ 300K a table clock made around 1697 by Thomas Tompion.
These results include premium.
Not only it was one of the most useful of all inventions but also, by raising the skills of the mechanical craftsmen, it was certainly a key to the start of the industrial revolution.
Joseph Knibb, who worked in London since 1670, was one of those masters of the time. Skilled clockmaker, he was a precursor and perhaps one of the inventors of the anchor escapement, a basic accessory designed to ensure the isochrony of the pendulum as a function of the deflection angle.
Back to the beginnings of his career. The horological collection of the watchmaker George Daniels, which will be dispersed on November 6 in London by Sotheby's, includes two clocks made by Joseph Knibb, in ebony, with Roman numerals on the dial.
The most luxurious, dated 1677, has the shape already usual in his time of the table clock, a cube with a handle. It is estimated £ 600K.
The other, made around 1685, is a longcase clock, or in a more familiar wording, a grandfather clock. This type of model is an early easy approach to improve the accuracy thanks to the lengthening of the pendulum. It is estimated £ 200K.
Here is already the link to the announcement of the sale.
Here are the links to the catalogue for the table clock and for the longcase clock.
POST SALE COMMENT
Clocks made by Joseph Knibb were the stars of the George Daniels collection of ancient clocks.
The table clock discussed above was sold £ 1.27 million, and another less luxurious example reached £ 340K. The grandfather clock has not been sold.
Among other makers, let us mention at £ 300K a table clock made around 1697 by Thomas Tompion.
These results include premium.
1693 A Little Clock for Queen Mary
2019 SOLD for £ 1.93M including premium
Established in London since 1671, Thomas Tompion became the best English manufacturer of clocks and watches by the accuracy of his mechanisms, the choice of the best materials and the employment of the best workers. He belongs to the second generation of pendulum clock manufacturers. Sponsored by Robert Hooke, he certainly benefited from the experience of the pioneering Oxford clockmakers.
Aware of the quality of his production, Tompion numbered his instruments, an exceptional practice in his time for a manufactured product. He mixes in a single serialization list the table clocks and the long case clocks. His clocks have a long autonomy. His grande sonnerie pieces offer a repetition of quarters over a long duration.
From 1692 or 1693 Tompion improves the elegance of his design with his Phase Two which includes the cushion dome, the thistle bud handle, the bellflower keyhole and the operation of the mechanism from the front face.
The master seems more interested in standardization than in miniaturization. Nevertheless Number 215 appears as the first of a small series of Phase Two table clocks with a total height of 28 cm including the raised handle. It was sold for £ 170K including premium by Bonhams on December 13, 2011.
Number 222, made especially for Queen Mary II in 1693 and known as the Q Clock, is the smallest clock ever made by Tompion with an ebony case. It is 20 cm high overall with the handle raised. It offers the quarter repetition and an autonomy of eight days.
Re-assembled in 1949 by a collector with its original movement, the Q Clock was sold for £ 440K including premium by Christie's on June 30, 1993. It will be sold by Bonhams in London on June 19, lot 103. The May 20 press release is announcing for this silver mounted royal clock an estimate in excess of £ 2M. A modern replica is joined to the lot.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Aware of the quality of his production, Tompion numbered his instruments, an exceptional practice in his time for a manufactured product. He mixes in a single serialization list the table clocks and the long case clocks. His clocks have a long autonomy. His grande sonnerie pieces offer a repetition of quarters over a long duration.
From 1692 or 1693 Tompion improves the elegance of his design with his Phase Two which includes the cushion dome, the thistle bud handle, the bellflower keyhole and the operation of the mechanism from the front face.
The master seems more interested in standardization than in miniaturization. Nevertheless Number 215 appears as the first of a small series of Phase Two table clocks with a total height of 28 cm including the raised handle. It was sold for £ 170K including premium by Bonhams on December 13, 2011.
Number 222, made especially for Queen Mary II in 1693 and known as the Q Clock, is the smallest clock ever made by Tompion with an ebony case. It is 20 cm high overall with the handle raised. It offers the quarter repetition and an autonomy of eight days.
Re-assembled in 1949 by a collector with its original movement, the Q Clock was sold for £ 440K including premium by Christie's on June 30, 1993. It will be sold by Bonhams in London on June 19, lot 103. The May 20 press release is announcing for this silver mounted royal clock an estimate in excess of £ 2M. A modern replica is joined to the lot.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
We are delighted to announce that one of the most valuable clocks ever to appear at auction, The King William & Queen Mary Royal Tompion, will star in The Clive Collection of Exceptional Clocks in London on 19 June.https://t.co/6ufWtyi4Ax pic.twitter.com/ROoThd69zu
— Bonhams (@bonhams1793) May 20, 2019
1740 Tall case clock by Peter Stretch in Philadelphia
2004 SOLD for $ 1.7M including premium by Sotheby's
1766 A Flat Desk with its Clock of Cartonnier
2015 SOLD for € 2.22M including premium
Philippe-Claude Montigny is a cabinetmaker at the end of the reign of Louis XV. Cousin of René Dubois, he is also an occasional collaborator to Etienne Levasseur who is at that time the skilled successor of Boulle. The large bureau plat in the style of Boulle naturally becomes one of his specialties.
All accessories are designed for writing: drawers and pull in the desk, black leathered top and the very tall serre papier now named cartonnier or filing cabinet which is surmounted by a clock.
The desks stamped by Montigny are rare. One of them is estimated € 2M for sale by Christie's in Paris on November 4, lot 510. It retained its matching cartonnier with its original clock as they were described in the inventory of the estate of a former intendant of Louis XVI in 1795. Two period écritoires are joined to complete the equipment.
The desk is adorned with a leafy garland in antiquisant style 'à la grecque' which was fashionable in the early 1760s. It certainly dates from the very beginning of the accession to the maîtrise by Montigny in 1766. The sets of furniture of this period in which desk, cabinet and clock were never separated are of extreme rarity.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's.
All accessories are designed for writing: drawers and pull in the desk, black leathered top and the very tall serre papier now named cartonnier or filing cabinet which is surmounted by a clock.
The desks stamped by Montigny are rare. One of them is estimated € 2M for sale by Christie's in Paris on November 4, lot 510. It retained its matching cartonnier with its original clock as they were described in the inventory of the estate of a former intendant of Louis XVI in 1795. Two period écritoires are joined to complete the equipment.
The desk is adorned with a leafy garland in antiquisant style 'à la grecque' which was fashionable in the early 1760s. It certainly dates from the very beginning of the accession to the maîtrise by Montigny in 1766. The sets of furniture of this period in which desk, cabinet and clock were never separated are of extreme rarity.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's.
1770-1773 French Rotating Spheres
2015 SOLD for £ 600K including premium
From the early eighteenth century, the best English and French clockmakers develop mechanisms simulating the movements of the planets. These instruments are named orrery clocks in England.
The Enlightenment fosters the scientific precision. In addition to the technical achievement already in combination with multiple complications, very competent astronomers such as Lalande and Cassini adjust the astronomical tables and mathematicians like Camus position their gears and wheels.
At the end of the reign of Louis XIV, Jean Pigeon realizes a moving sphere clock on the principle of Copernicus and publishes his invention in 1714. The astronomical clock by Passemant is presented in 1749 at the Royal Academy of Sciences and is used to set the official time of the kingdom. It is kept at Versailles.
The Prince of Conti had little skill in politics but became the greatest collector of his time. Resolutely dismissing the academies and corporations, he commissioned around 1770 the most complex astronomical clock of his time. The clockmaking is made by Mabille and the spheres by Baffert, certainly before 1773 which is the date of bankruptcy of the latter.
The clock displays all the possible elements for measuring time and a beautiful dial for the position of the moon. Extended to the outer planets, the planetary includes six rotating spheres with the highest scientific accuracy. It also marks ecliptic, solstices, equinoxes and zodiac.
Janvier, who had this piece in hand after the Révolution, noted that it is better than Passemant's clock by the accuracy of its annual rotation because it incorporates the calculations published by Camus in 1749.
The planetary clock of the Prince de Conti is estimated £ 600K for sale by Christie's in London on July 9, lot 9.
The Enlightenment fosters the scientific precision. In addition to the technical achievement already in combination with multiple complications, very competent astronomers such as Lalande and Cassini adjust the astronomical tables and mathematicians like Camus position their gears and wheels.
At the end of the reign of Louis XIV, Jean Pigeon realizes a moving sphere clock on the principle of Copernicus and publishes his invention in 1714. The astronomical clock by Passemant is presented in 1749 at the Royal Academy of Sciences and is used to set the official time of the kingdom. It is kept at Versailles.
The Prince of Conti had little skill in politics but became the greatest collector of his time. Resolutely dismissing the academies and corporations, he commissioned around 1770 the most complex astronomical clock of his time. The clockmaking is made by Mabille and the spheres by Baffert, certainly before 1773 which is the date of bankruptcy of the latter.
The clock displays all the possible elements for measuring time and a beautiful dial for the position of the moon. Extended to the outer planets, the planetary includes six rotating spheres with the highest scientific accuracy. It also marks ecliptic, solstices, equinoxes and zodiac.
Janvier, who had this piece in hand after the Révolution, noted that it is better than Passemant's clock by the accuracy of its annual rotation because it incorporates the calculations published by Camus in 1749.
The planetary clock of the Prince de Conti is estimated £ 600K for sale by Christie's in London on July 9, lot 9.
Prince de Conti's Planetary clock — the 18th century equivalent of the best of Silicon Valley http://t.co/Ssoz70EO2r pic.twitter.com/93nzHxPAIX
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) May 26, 2015ca 1774 Régulateur de Parquet by Berthoud
1999 SOLD for £ 1.93M including premium by Christie's
1783 Trunk and Ears of the Time Elephant
2012 SOLD 1.6 M£ including premium
At the beginning of the reign of George III, English mechanics are the best in the world. Qianlong knows. The prestige of serving such an illustrious client encourages English watchmakers to create extraordinary pieces.
The musical automaton for sale on July 4 in London by Sotheby's is highly sophisticated. Around 1780, the Swiss have not yet started the trend of songbirds. The main element of the piece is a big elephant that moves its trunk and ears and turns its eyeballs. Standing on the clock, it carries on its back a canopy covered pagoda surmounted by a Catherine wheel. The whole is 102 cm high.
This incredible object, estimated £ 1M, brought out from oblivion the maker who signed it, named Peter Torckler, listed in the commercial registers of London from 1780 to 1783. He thus appears as a skillful contemporary but probably also an unsuccessful competitor of James Cox.
There is no evidence that this piece went to reach China. It was probably in London in the 1890s when it was bought by the Shah of Persia.
POST SALE COMMENT
This piece of large size and extreme rarity was sold £ 1.6 million including premium.
I invite you to discover its main movements in the videos shared by Sotheby's.
The musical automaton for sale on July 4 in London by Sotheby's is highly sophisticated. Around 1780, the Swiss have not yet started the trend of songbirds. The main element of the piece is a big elephant that moves its trunk and ears and turns its eyeballs. Standing on the clock, it carries on its back a canopy covered pagoda surmounted by a Catherine wheel. The whole is 102 cm high.
This incredible object, estimated £ 1M, brought out from oblivion the maker who signed it, named Peter Torckler, listed in the commercial registers of London from 1780 to 1783. He thus appears as a skillful contemporary but probably also an unsuccessful competitor of James Cox.
There is no evidence that this piece went to reach China. It was probably in London in the 1890s when it was bought by the Shah of Persia.
POST SALE COMMENT
This piece of large size and extreme rarity was sold £ 1.6 million including premium.
I invite you to discover its main movements in the videos shared by Sotheby's.
1790s Technology Transfer from London to Canton
2010 SOLD 3.8 M$ including premium
The English, always eager to trade, could not ignore China, but the emperors were suspicious. Stepping back in 1757, Qianlong restricted to one area of the port of Guangzhou (Canton) the access authorized to foreigners.
But Qianlong was also a big fan of clocks, a craft where the British were clever. It is told that this emperor owned more than 4,000 clocks, decorated with musical automata. He set up specialized workshops in Beijing and Guangzhou, which started by importing the clockwork from England.
A retrospective look at the extraordinary sale made by Christie's in Hong Kong on May 27, 2008 provides valuable information. The luxury of these imperial table clocks is fabulous.
The most expensive clock, 36 M HK$ including premium, an English piece, was probably one of those introduced to Qianlong by Lord Macartney when he endeavoured to strengthen trade in 1793. Then came at HK $ 34 million a clock mounted in China on an English movement dated about 1771. It is a great demonstration of technology transfer at the end of the eighteenth century.
Echoing the tradition of home auctions, Sotheby's will sell on 8 and 9 June the furnishings of the 45 rooms of the country manor of Mrs. Kluge, in Virginia.
The beautiful table clock with gilt brass and enamel, estimated $ 600K, has been made in the workshops of Guangzhou. The automaton includes a waterfall, and characters who pass a landscape. The mechanism is later.
See this lot, and an overview of the sale, in the article shared by Roving Insight.
POST SALE COMMENT
As good as the superb lots sold in 2008! The clock of Mrs. Kluge is a masterpiece. It was sold $ 3.8 million including premium.
But Qianlong was also a big fan of clocks, a craft where the British were clever. It is told that this emperor owned more than 4,000 clocks, decorated with musical automata. He set up specialized workshops in Beijing and Guangzhou, which started by importing the clockwork from England.
A retrospective look at the extraordinary sale made by Christie's in Hong Kong on May 27, 2008 provides valuable information. The luxury of these imperial table clocks is fabulous.
The most expensive clock, 36 M HK$ including premium, an English piece, was probably one of those introduced to Qianlong by Lord Macartney when he endeavoured to strengthen trade in 1793. Then came at HK $ 34 million a clock mounted in China on an English movement dated about 1771. It is a great demonstration of technology transfer at the end of the eighteenth century.
Echoing the tradition of home auctions, Sotheby's will sell on 8 and 9 June the furnishings of the 45 rooms of the country manor of Mrs. Kluge, in Virginia.
The beautiful table clock with gilt brass and enamel, estimated $ 600K, has been made in the workshops of Guangzhou. The automaton includes a waterfall, and characters who pass a landscape. The mechanism is later.
See this lot, and an overview of the sale, in the article shared by Roving Insight.
POST SALE COMMENT
As good as the superb lots sold in 2008! The clock of Mrs. Kluge is a masterpiece. It was sold $ 3.8 million including premium.
The English Pagoda
2017 SOLD for $ 1M including premium
English clocks and Swiss watches improved by automata are highly valued at the imperial court of the Qing in the late eighteenth century. Some productions are managed specifically for that export, soon superseded by a workshop for the manufacture of automaton clocks in Guangzhou. Unfortunately this industry is poorly documented.
On January 21 in Pittsfield MA, Fontaine's sells an English clock designed to please the Chinese, lot 118 estimated over $ 800K. Here is the link to the press release.
Its shape is inspired by the porcelain tower or pagoda of Nanjing, created at the request of the Yongle emperor of the Ming to be the masterpiece of the Buddhist devotion. This elegant monument destroyed by the Taiping rebels between 1856 and 1860 consisted of nine levels in decreasing surfaces with a total height of 80 meters. It was long the tallest building in the world, located in Nanjing which was the largest city in the world.
The clock for sale was recently found in a basement. It has been cleaned and is in working order. The automaton shrinking the nine levels is triggered every two hours as well as a music made by small bells distributed at all levels executing a tune that was highly popular at the time of the Qing. The total height of the instrument is 1.25 m in the raised position.
This clock is not unique : a similar unit was exhibited in Macao in 2004. We do not know more about its origins, certainly prior to the development of the clock workshops of the Qing. No Chinese imitation is referred in the catalog of the auction house.
For a year Fontaine's has offered some outstanding Chinese clocks. A clock made in Guangzhou at some time in the 19th century was sold for $ 1,27M including premium on May 21, 2016.
Please watch the video shared by Fontaine's to introduce the English pagoda clock :
On January 21 in Pittsfield MA, Fontaine's sells an English clock designed to please the Chinese, lot 118 estimated over $ 800K. Here is the link to the press release.
Its shape is inspired by the porcelain tower or pagoda of Nanjing, created at the request of the Yongle emperor of the Ming to be the masterpiece of the Buddhist devotion. This elegant monument destroyed by the Taiping rebels between 1856 and 1860 consisted of nine levels in decreasing surfaces with a total height of 80 meters. It was long the tallest building in the world, located in Nanjing which was the largest city in the world.
The clock for sale was recently found in a basement. It has been cleaned and is in working order. The automaton shrinking the nine levels is triggered every two hours as well as a music made by small bells distributed at all levels executing a tune that was highly popular at the time of the Qing. The total height of the instrument is 1.25 m in the raised position.
This clock is not unique : a similar unit was exhibited in Macao in 2004. We do not know more about its origins, certainly prior to the development of the clock workshops of the Qing. No Chinese imitation is referred in the catalog of the auction house.
For a year Fontaine's has offered some outstanding Chinese clocks. A clock made in Guangzhou at some time in the 19th century was sold for $ 1,27M including premium on May 21, 2016.
Please watch the video shared by Fontaine's to introduce the English pagoda clock :
1835 The Clock of the Duc d'Orléans
2012 SOLD 6.8 M$ including premium
The most extraordinary ancient timepiece that was recently sold at auction is the clock of the duc d'Orléans, reaching $ 5.8 million including premium at Sotheby's in New York on 2 December 1999. It is listed again on December 4 by the same auction house. Here is the link to the catalog.
In 1795, Abraham-Louis Breguet imagines the combination of a clock and a watch. This outstanding inventor manages later to achieve this stupendous set known as Breguet Sympathique.
After being used during the day, the watch is repositioned in a cradle at the top of the clock. At midnight, the clock triggers a mechanism that enters the watch, measures and rectifies the error. After a few days, the value of the error is integrated into the beat of the watch and its adjustment becomes automatic.
When Breguet died in 1823, five copies have been made. Only kings can afford to own such an expensive mechanism.
Being an extremely remote cousin of Charles X, Louis Philippe I becomes King of France after a revolution. His eldest son, the duc d'Orléans, is a brilliant prince who would like to live again in the luxury of the Ancien Régime. He commissions his sympathique clock to the Breguet workshop. It is completed in 1835.
Luxury adds to technical feat. 58 cm high, the piece is made in the imitation of Boulle style which is so fashionable in that time, in a cabinet by Bellangé and with Denière bronzes on a design by Questel.
The clock and the watch of this set have not been separated. Having been restored to operation by George Daniels, it provides an exceptional demonstration of one of the most advanced ideas of automatism.
POST SALE COMMENT
Again a great and deserved price for this fabulous clock: $ 6.8 million including premium.
In 1795, Abraham-Louis Breguet imagines the combination of a clock and a watch. This outstanding inventor manages later to achieve this stupendous set known as Breguet Sympathique.
After being used during the day, the watch is repositioned in a cradle at the top of the clock. At midnight, the clock triggers a mechanism that enters the watch, measures and rectifies the error. After a few days, the value of the error is integrated into the beat of the watch and its adjustment becomes automatic.
When Breguet died in 1823, five copies have been made. Only kings can afford to own such an expensive mechanism.
Being an extremely remote cousin of Charles X, Louis Philippe I becomes King of France after a revolution. His eldest son, the duc d'Orléans, is a brilliant prince who would like to live again in the luxury of the Ancien Régime. He commissions his sympathique clock to the Breguet workshop. It is completed in 1835.
Luxury adds to technical feat. 58 cm high, the piece is made in the imitation of Boulle style which is so fashionable in that time, in a cabinet by Bellangé and with Denière bronzes on a design by Questel.
The clock and the watch of this set have not been separated. Having been restored to operation by George Daniels, it provides an exceptional demonstration of one of the most advanced ideas of automatism.
POST SALE COMMENT
Again a great and deserved price for this fabulous clock: $ 6.8 million including premium.
The Guangzhou Workshops
2016 SOLD for $ 900K including premium
The Qing emperor and his court are fond of European clocks. The port of Guangzhou (Canton) which is open to international trade naturally becomes the center of specialized activities. The arrival in China of Swiss and English timepieces with automata increases even more the imperial curiosity and manufacturing facilities are created before the end of the Qianlong reign.
A clock made in Guangzhou after an English model was sold for $ 3.8 million including premium by Sotheby's on June 9, 2010 from a lower estimate of $ 600K although the original movement had been replaced by a triple fusee at the end of the nineteenth century.
Its case mounted on carved ormolu legs consists of four levels.
The main body shelters the clock above which a window displays the automaton of figures walking on a bridge in a Chinese garden. The next level is a waterfall whose illusion of movement is made by rotating cylinders. Above it a blue dial is animated by a central spiral wheel along with five flower heads rotating clockwise and five alternated others that rotate simultaneously counter clockwise on the dial's rim. The top level bears the two letters for 'Da Ji' meaning great prosperity.
Two other Da Ji 93 cm high almost identical as the clock discussed above have resurfaced. They are not dated but their movement with the triple fusee is perhaps contemporary of the modification of the previous example. The most visible differences are the replacement of the garden bridge by ducks on a wild pond and of the flower heads by patterns similar as the central geometric figure of that level.
One of them was sold for $ 1.27M including premium by Fontaine's on 21 May 2016. The other one is estimated $ 800K for sale by Clars in Oakland CA on June 19, lot 2401 here linked on the bidding platform LiveAuctioneers..
Clocks from a slightly simpler model have also been recently sold at auction. This model of similar height offers a rotating procession and leaves that open to disclose other topics. A single unit was sold for $ 275K before fees by Fontaine's on February 27, 2016 and a pair for $ 610K including premium by Clars on May 22, 2016.
LATER COMMENT
It is alleged that the lot referred above from the 22 May 2016 sale is not a Chinese Imperial pair of clocks but reproductions recently made by a clock workshop in Tianjin. See report by SJX.
Please watch the video shared by Clars showing the clock for the June 2016 sale.
A clock made in Guangzhou after an English model was sold for $ 3.8 million including premium by Sotheby's on June 9, 2010 from a lower estimate of $ 600K although the original movement had been replaced by a triple fusee at the end of the nineteenth century.
Its case mounted on carved ormolu legs consists of four levels.
The main body shelters the clock above which a window displays the automaton of figures walking on a bridge in a Chinese garden. The next level is a waterfall whose illusion of movement is made by rotating cylinders. Above it a blue dial is animated by a central spiral wheel along with five flower heads rotating clockwise and five alternated others that rotate simultaneously counter clockwise on the dial's rim. The top level bears the two letters for 'Da Ji' meaning great prosperity.
Two other Da Ji 93 cm high almost identical as the clock discussed above have resurfaced. They are not dated but their movement with the triple fusee is perhaps contemporary of the modification of the previous example. The most visible differences are the replacement of the garden bridge by ducks on a wild pond and of the flower heads by patterns similar as the central geometric figure of that level.
One of them was sold for $ 1.27M including premium by Fontaine's on 21 May 2016. The other one is estimated $ 800K for sale by Clars in Oakland CA on June 19, lot 2401 here linked on the bidding platform LiveAuctioneers..
Clocks from a slightly simpler model have also been recently sold at auction. This model of similar height offers a rotating procession and leaves that open to disclose other topics. A single unit was sold for $ 275K before fees by Fontaine's on February 27, 2016 and a pair for $ 610K including premium by Clars on May 22, 2016.
LATER COMMENT
It is alleged that the lot referred above from the 22 May 2016 sale is not a Chinese Imperial pair of clocks but reproductions recently made by a clock workshop in Tianjin. See report by SJX.
Please watch the video shared by Clars showing the clock for the June 2016 sale.
1902 Fabergé Egg
2007 SOLD 9 M£ including premium by Christie's
Surtout connu pour ses œufs, le légendaire joaillier #Fabergé a également été un pionnier dans le travail de l’email https://t.co/jX2LfcNu0D pic.twitter.com/w2yPxpTyd4
— Christie's Paris (@christiesparis) May 23, 2017
Quick trip down memory lane - Christie’s currently holds the #record for the most expensive #RussianWorkofArt sold in the category, the #Rothschild #Fabergé Egg which sold for US$18,576,214 in 2007: https://t.co/qF6ZxJv7RA pic.twitter.com/ONoxXplZcx
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) April 9, 2019
1926 On the Desk of Anna Gould
2017 SOLD for € 1.12M including premium
For a rich foreigner or an aristocrat residing in Paris, it is of the highest chic to have a mansion avenue du Bois which will become avenue Foch in 1929. The Palais Rose built from 1896 to 1902 reaches a culmination of that luxury.
The Palais Rose was built with the best marbles on the model of the Grand Trianon by comte Boni de Castellane who furnished it in an unbelievable luxury. Castellane could spend without sparing : he had obtained the hand and dowry of Anna Gould whose father had accumulated in the railway industry one of the most colossal fortunes in America.
Castellane spends too much and divorce becomes inevitable. Anna Gould remains in the Palais Rose and becomes after her second marriage in 1908 duchesse de Talleyrand and princesse de Sagan.
On March 7 in Paris, Christie's sells furniture and objects from the Palais Rose, destroyed in 1969 on behalf of a real estate developer. Lot 19 estimated € 1M is a very opulent nécessaire de bureau (desk kit) commissioned by Anna Gould to Cartier in 1926.
The Société Cartier is one of the pioneers of the Art Déco style much fashionable in Paris after the specialized exhibition of 1925, promoting functional objects. Cartier also offers various themes of oriental fantasy increasingly enjoyed at that time by the wealthy clients.
Anna Gould's kit is depicting a Japanese pagoda in a garden, decorated with figures of dragons and Fo lions. Mixing coral, aventurine, rock crystal, agate and mother-of-pearl and colored in enamels and lacquers, it measures 28 x 24 x 12 cm overall and weighs 6.7 Kg.
Centered on a pendulette, this piece includes two inkwells and a pen holder without omitting a lighting made of two 110-volt bulbs. In 2017 Cartier added a dip pen in lapis lazuli, quartz, onyx and coral matching the nécessaire.
The Palais Rose was built with the best marbles on the model of the Grand Trianon by comte Boni de Castellane who furnished it in an unbelievable luxury. Castellane could spend without sparing : he had obtained the hand and dowry of Anna Gould whose father had accumulated in the railway industry one of the most colossal fortunes in America.
Castellane spends too much and divorce becomes inevitable. Anna Gould remains in the Palais Rose and becomes after her second marriage in 1908 duchesse de Talleyrand and princesse de Sagan.
On March 7 in Paris, Christie's sells furniture and objects from the Palais Rose, destroyed in 1969 on behalf of a real estate developer. Lot 19 estimated € 1M is a very opulent nécessaire de bureau (desk kit) commissioned by Anna Gould to Cartier in 1926.
The Société Cartier is one of the pioneers of the Art Déco style much fashionable in Paris after the specialized exhibition of 1925, promoting functional objects. Cartier also offers various themes of oriental fantasy increasingly enjoyed at that time by the wealthy clients.
Anna Gould's kit is depicting a Japanese pagoda in a garden, decorated with figures of dragons and Fo lions. Mixing coral, aventurine, rock crystal, agate and mother-of-pearl and colored in enamels and lacquers, it measures 28 x 24 x 12 cm overall and weighs 6.7 Kg.
Centered on a pendulette, this piece includes two inkwells and a pen holder without omitting a lighting made of two 110-volt bulbs. In 2017 Cartier added a dip pen in lapis lazuli, quartz, onyx and coral matching the nécessaire.
@christiesparis offre aujourd'hui aux #enchères les derniers témoignages de la collection de Boniface de #Castellane https://t.co/2RHwVwLgWY pic.twitter.com/SNkoo7vOV9
— AuctionLab (@byAuctionLab) March 7, 2017
