Gilt bronze and white marble clock with rotating circles, th - Lot 81

Gilt bronze and white marble clock with rotating circles, the terrestrial globe wrapped in starry drapery on a black background, resting on clouds animated by two winged children, one indicating the time (with a missing arrow) on the enameled dial, the whole supported by a fluted column shaft with garlands of foliage and flowers, the base with a frieze of interlaces and rosettes, ribboned rushes and foliage; (the drapery originally in blue enamel, now altered; missing, notably an arrow and stars). Louis XVI period. Height: 39 cm The movement is signed and dated "Roque passage du saumon à Paris 1776". Provenance: Most likely former collection of Baron van Hoorn van Vlooswyck, his sale in Paris on November 22, 1809, lot 80. Provenance: Former Francis Guérault collection, his sale in Paris, Bellier study, March 22, 1935, lot 45. Bibliographical reference: A. Pradère, "Baron van Hoorn, an amateur of boulle, antiquity and the middle ages", Furniture History Society Journal, 2007. Note: There are at least two other examples of this clock, most probably owned by the clockmaker Lepaute. The second, in Turquin blue marble, belonged to the Dalva gallery in New York (New York sale, Christie's, October 22, 2020, lot 171. Our clock is the only one to combine white marble and blue drapery. Provided we consider the designation of the steel drapery as an error of description by the expert of the time, instead of a drapery in blue enamel applied on a silver background, it can most probably be identified with the clock in the collection of Baron van Hoorn: "a clock representing the terrestrial globe, supported by a group of gilded clouds, crossed by a circular dial, adorned accompanied by two gilded bronze figures, one of which represents the Day marking the hours with an arrow the other the Night, the head covered with a blue steel drapery, strewn with gold stars, from which it envelops a portion of the globe: the whole raised on a fluted cipe in white Carrara marble, with tore; rosettes, garlands other ornaments in mat gold gilded bronze. Height 13", width 9". (Paris sale, collection of Baron van Hoorn, November 29, 1809, lot 80).