A late Louis XV neoclassical giltbronze cartel clock signed Le Roy

A LATE LOUIS XV ORMOLU CARTEL CLOCK CIRCA 1770.
Chased and gilded bronze, enameled coper, glass, steel

The dial signed LE ROY A PARIS, the model by Antoine Foulet (1701-1775).
The circular glazed and white enamel dial with Roman and Arabic chapters, with pierced ormolu hands, with eight-day twin barrel original movement with verge escapement (replaced) and countwheel strike on a bell, set within a shaped case flanked by fluted pilasters and surmounted by an urn with goat's head handles suspending a berried laurel swag, with pierced sounding panels to the sides, and foliate pendant.

Of quintessentially neoclassical design, this cartel has been realized according to a drawing kept in Paris at the INHA Library, in the Doucet collection, from the workshop of the Parisian cabinetmaker and merchant Antoine Foullet (1710-1775), who specialized in in the sale of clock cases and who was recognized for the originality of his bronzes. This preparatory drawing deposited by him, under folio 60, in the "Book of pendulum drawings", of the founders and chasers of Paris: "N ° 60 Cartel à boudin & vase gout grecque, Foullet" then described as "color 121 pounds, gilding 130 pounds, gilded price 251 pounds ”.

A son and a grandson of watchmakers, Pierre Leroy, is the heir of an important dynasty, originally from the city of Tours in the Loire valley. His grandfather Pierre Leroy was established there in the 17th century, and his father Julien Leroy, who settled in Paris, where he was appointed ordinary watchmaker to the king in 1739, was among the watchmakers who helped to propel the French watchmaking at the world first place in the mid 18th century. A specialist in repetitive movements, he perfected the compensated pendulum and was the father of the horizontal clock.
Pierre Leroy, who was master in 1737, was appointed ordinary watchmaker to the king, after the death of his father. He is the author of several works on the improvement of marine chronometers published in the 1760s, and he was a member of the Royal Academy of Angers.

Two cartel clocks of identical design belong to the French public collections :
- A wall clock with a movement by Chevalier aux Tuileries belongs to the Musée du Louvre Collection. It is curently exhibited in Chateaux de Versailles & Trianon (Inv.OA 5287) (ill. in Ottomeyer und Proschel, 3.8.5 p. 182
- A wall clock with a movement by Lenormand à Versailles belongs to the Mobilier National collection (Inv. GML-4355-000)

Literature : Reproduced in Ottomeyer und Proschel, 3.8.5 p. 182