Offered by Franck Baptiste Paris
A monumental (123 cm) wall clock (*cartel*) in finely chased, mercury-gilded bronze.
The design features Rococo-style asymmetrical acanthus leaves, bold dynamic scrolls, and naturalistic floral garlands that unfurl with remarkable freedom around the dial.
The crest is crowned by a delicate pastoral group depicting a young shepherd and shepherdess, dressed in the classical style reflecting the mid-18th-century taste for rustic themes.
Draped in a light tunic that reveals part of his chest, the shepherd plays the panpipes to charm his beloved. She is elegantly attired in a long gown with soft folds and a fitted bodice, seated upon a rock. Holding an open musical score, she beats time to the melody her companion is playing, lending the scene great liveliness and touching intimacy.
The circular white enamel dial, featuring Roman numerals for the hours and Arabic numerals for the minutes, is signed "Hardel à Paris."
The original silk-thread suspension movement is also signed "Hardel à Paris" on the backplate.
Excellent state of preservation; in perfect working order.
Parisian work from the Louis XV period (circa 1760), attributable to the King's bronze caster and chaser, Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain.
Dimensions:
Height: 123 cm; Width: 60 cm
A similar clock featuring a movement by Pierre Le Roy is illustrated on the cover of Pierre Kjellberg’s *Encyclopédie de la pendule française du Moyen Âge au XXe siècle*.
Our assessment:
The clock presented here ranks among the largest models produced during the reign of Louis XV.
With its exceptional dimensions and rich ornamentation, it exemplifies a level of ambition rarely achieved in 18th-century clockmaking. The casting, chasing, and mercury gilding of a work of this importance entailed considerable cost.
These technical and financial constraints likely explain the very limited number of examples produced, intended exclusively for a select elite within the nobility.
The sculptural group crowning the clock perfectly illustrates the taste for gallant garden scenes and pastoral motifs that reached their zenith during the reign of Louis XV. This elegant, rustic aesthetic—celebrating the pleasures of nature and music—finds its most accomplished expression in the compositions of François Boucher, whose works helped disseminate this refined ideal throughout the decorative arts.
Although this specific example bears no signature, the exceptional quality of its casting, chasing, and composition—along with its stylistic characteristics—has led to a consensus among specialists attributing the model to the renowned bronzier Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain; it stands as one of his most prestigious creations.
It was precisely for these qualities that this model was chosen to grace the cover of Pierre Kjellberg’s book, *L’Encyclopédie de la pendule française* (The Encyclopedia of French Clocks).
Louis Michel Hardel was a clockmaker who achieved master status in Paris in 1753 by submitting a masterpiece.
He was based at the Cloître Saint-Denis de la Chartre on the Île de la Cité in Paris.
Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain (1719–1791) became a master caster (specializing in clay and sand casting) by submitting a masterpiece on July 15, 1748.
He was one of the greatest bronziers of the reign of Louis XV.
In 1765, he became a warden of the *fondeurs-ciseleurs* (casters and chasers) guild; a staunch defender of intellectual property rights, he proposed and successfully campaigned for a regulation requiring bronziers to sign their works. As indicated on an advertising label from his workshop on Rue Saint-Nicolas, he sold "all manner of ormolu cases and mounts" and "created the designs and wax models."
He was the creator of numerous successful designs—such as the *cartel* clock featuring two Chinese figures, and clocks featuring rhinoceroses, elephants, or bulls—making him one of the most frequently copied artists of his time.
He initiated numerous lawsuits, notably against his former apprentice Jean Goyer; having become an *ébéniste* (cabinetmaker) specializing in *cartel* clock cases, Goyer was counterfeiting Saint-Germain’s bronze designs and casting them himself.
In addition to the many bronze-casters plagiarizing his work, there were also cabinetmakers who, seeking to cut costs, took to casting their own bronze mounts—a practice strictly prohibited by the laws of the kingdom in the 18th century.
Unfortunately for Saint-Germain, the requirement to mark one's work was rarely enforced, except by a few prominent casters who had also created successful designs and suffered, just as he did, from the disregard for intellectual property rights.
The Caffieri family and Robert Osmond, for instance, made a point of marking their pieces.
The majority of other makers preferred to remain anonymous, whether to retain the freedom to cast successful designs created by others or due to subcontracting arrangements with the *marchands-merciers* (luxury goods dealers) responsible for retailing the items in their shops.
