Print Format - La Pendulerie

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Lepaute - Osmond
Cartonnier Mantel Clock, Louis XVI period
Lepaute, horloger du Roi à Paris and case attributed to Robert Osmond
Important Architectural Gilt Bronze Cartonnier Mantel Clock
Paris, early Louis XVI period, circa 1770-1775
Height 39 cm; length 45.5 cm; depth 18.5 cm
Provenance:
- Probably from the collection of Pierre-Paul-Louis Randon de Boisset (1708-1776), Receiver General of Finance
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for the region of Lyon and Farmer General; his collection was sold in Paris from February 27 to March 25, 1777, lot
833; purchased for 1500 livres by Monsieur de Mondragon.
- Fabius Brothers Collection, Paris
Bibliography:
Pierre Kjellberg, Encyclopédie de la pendule française du Moyen Age à nos jours, Paris, 1997, p. 177, fig. E
(illustration).
The enamel dial, signed Lepaute horloger du roi à Paris, indicates the hours in Roman numerals, the minutes in
Arabic numerals and the seconds; the remarkable rectangular architectural case is in finely chased gilt bronze. The
bezel is decorated with a frieze of interlocking motifs, the arch by an egg and dart frieze, the dial is flanked by
scrolling foliage and flower rosettes and scrolling, the sides feature Apollo masks with radiating sun rays, framed by
ribbons and laurel branches. The base features a curved foliate moulding and the clock is surmounted by acanthus
leaves and a flower.
This remarkable clock may be confidently attributed to Robert Osmond (1711-1789), one of the most renowned
Parisian bronziers of the 18th century. A few rare clocks with cases by Osmond feature similar compositions,
including an arched architectural borne, including: a clock formerly in the collection of the 6th Count of Rosebery in
Mentmore (Sotheby’s, 18-20 May 1977, lot 123); a second illustrated in Tardy, La pendule française, 2ème partie:
du Louis XVI à nos jours, Paris, 1975, p.301. The lack of precision and recurring errors in the descriptions of the
clock movements by the painter Pierre Rémy, expert of the Randon de Boisset sale, make it difficult to be certain,
however the lot 833, described as follows: “Another clock, with quarters and seconds, made by le Paute, in a
rectangular gilt bronze case, with rounded egg and dart decorated arch, the front with scrolling and flowers, the
sides with sunrays, & the base with convex foliate moulding: length 17 pouces (44.5 cm) by 15 high (39 cm)”,
appears to be similar to the present clock.
Our opinion:
Rive Droite
Artist Biography :
Lepaute Horloger du Roi à Paris
This is the signature of the brothers Jean-André Lepaute (1720-1789) and Jean-Baptiste Lepaute (1727-1802),
remarkable clockmakers born in Thonne-la-Long in Lorraine who were both horlogers du Roi.
Jean-André came to Paris as a young man and was joined by his brother in 1747. The Lepaute enterprise, founded
informally in 1750, was formally incorporated in 1758. Jean-André, who was received as a maître by the corporation
des horlogers in 1759, was lodged first in the Palais du Luxembourg and then, in 1756, in the Galeries du Louvre.
Jean-André Lepaute wrote a horological treatise (Traité d'Horlogerie), published in Paris in 1755. Another volume,
entitled Description de plusieurs ouvrages d'horlogerie (A Description of several horological pieces) appeared in
1764.
In 1748 he married the mathematician and astronomer Nicole-Reine Etable de la Brière, who among other things
predicted the return of Halley’s Comet.
Jean-Baptiste Lepaute, received maître in December 1776, was known for the equation of time clock he
constructed for the Paris Hôtel de Ville (1780, destroyed in the fire of 1871) and the clock of the Hôtel des Invalides.
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The two brothers worked for the French Garde-Meuble de la Couronne; their clocks were appreciated by the most
important connoisseurs of the time, both in France and abroad, such as the Prince Charles de Lorraine and the
Queen Louise-Ulrika of Sweden.
Jean-Baptiste took over the workshop when Jean-André retired in 1775.
Robert Osmond (1711-1789)
French bronze-caster Robert Osmond was born in Canisy, near Saint-Lô; he began his apprenticeship in the
workshop of Louis Regnard, maître fondeur en terre et en sable, and became a master bronzier in Paris in 1746.
He is recorded as working in the rue des Canettes in the St Sulpice parish, moving to the rue de Mâcon in 1761.
Robert Osmond became a juré, thus gaining a certain degree of protection of his creative rights. In 1753, he sent
for his nephew in Normandy, and in 1761, the workshop, which by that time had grown considerably, moved to the
rue de Macon. The nephew, Jean-Baptiste Osmond (1742-after 1790) became a master in 1764 and as of that
date worked closely with his uncle, to such a degree that it is difficult to differentiate between the contributions of
each.
Robert appears to have retired around 1775. Jean-Baptiste, who remained in charge of the workshop after the
retirement of his uncle, encountered difficulties and went bankrupt in 1784. Robert Osmond died in 1789.
Prolific bronze casters and chasers, the Osmonds worked with equal success in both the Louis XV and the Neoclassical styles. Prized by connoisseurs of the period, their work was distributed by clockmakers and marchandsmerciers. Although they made all types of furnishing objects, including fire dogs, wall lights and inkstands, the only
extant works by them are clocks, including one depicting the Rape of Europe (Getty Museum, California) in the
Louis XV style and two important Neo-classical forms, of which there are several examples, as well as a vase with
lions' heads (Musée Condé, Chantilly and the Cleveland Museum of Art) and a cartel-clock with chased ribbons
(examples in the Stockholm Nationalmuseum; Paris, Nissim de Camondo Museum). A remarkable clock decorated
with a globe, cupids and a Sèvres porcelain plaque (Paris, Louvre) is another of their notable works.
Specialising at first in the rocaille style, in the early 1760’s they turned to the new Neo-classical style and soon
numbered among its greatest practitioners. They furnished cases to the best clockmakers of the period, such as
Montjoye, for whom they made cases for cartonnier and column clocks, the column being one of the favourite motifs
of the Osmond workshop.
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