Lot 1203* - A208 Decorative Arts - Thursday, 21. March 2024, 01.30 PM
PENDULE "L'AFRIQUE"
Directoire, Paris ca. 1800, designed by the bronzier Jean-Simon Deverberie (1764-1824).
Dark patinated and parcel-gilt bronze. Figure of a huntress with bow and arrow, seated on the cylindrical clock case, a tortoise at her feet, a crouching panther behind the figure. Glass eyes. Arch-shaped base, decorated with palmettes, exotic birds and a leaf frieze. On paw feet and a rectangular marble plinth. White enamel dial with Roman hours. Parisian movement with half-hour strike on bell.
42 × 10.5 × 58 cm.
Gilding rubbed. Minor losses. Movement needs to be checked.
This pendule entitled "L'Afrique" was designed by the Parisian bronzier Jean-Simon Deverberie, who created another version of the piece entitled "L'Amérique", in which the hunting woman is accompanied by a crocodile. Various versions of this model exist, differing in the design of the base. The design drawings for Deverberie's model are kept in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.
The depiction of dark-skinned figures was not used in European watchmaking until the end of the Ancien Régime, towards the end of the 18th century. The increased interest in the subject can be traced back to literary publications such as the story of Atala and Chactas by François René Vicomte de Chateaubriand and Paul et Virginie by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. The motifs, referred to in French as "bons sauvages", reflect an idealized and romanticized view of the exotic "noble savages" and the ideal image of the "homme naturel", a natural and unimagined man of nature.
Cf. Pierre Kjellberg. Encyclopédie de la Pendule Française du Moyen Age au XXe siècle. Paris 1997. p. 350 with the depiction of a pendule very similar except for the design of the feet and on the following pages further versions of the model as well as a pendule "L'Amérique" with a comparable base design.
This pendule entitled "L'Afrique" was designed by the Parisian bronzier Jean-Simon Deverberie, who created another version of the piece entitled "L'Amérique", in which the hunting woman is accompanied by a crocodile. Various versions of this model exist, differing in the design of the base. The design drawings for Deverberie's model are kept in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.
The depiction of dark-skinned figures was not used in European watchmaking until the end of the Ancien Régime, towards the end of the 18th century. The increased interest in the subject can be traced back to literary publications such as the story of Atala and Chactas by François René Vicomte de Chateaubriand and Paul et Virginie by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. The motifs, referred to in French as "bons sauvages", reflect an idealized and romanticized view of the exotic "noble savages" and the ideal image of the "homme naturel", a natural and unimagined man of nature.
Cf. Pierre Kjellberg. Encyclopédie de la Pendule Française du Moyen Age au XXe siècle. Paris 1997. p. 350 with the depiction of a pendule very similar except for the design of the feet and on the following pages further versions of the model as well as a pendule "L'Amérique" with a comparable base design.
CHF 10 000 / 15 000 | (€ 10 310 / 15 460)
Sold for CHF 20 000 (including buyer’s premium)
All information is subject to change.