Cartel Louis XVI Chiselled & Gilded Bronze - Royal Model Of The Chateau De Versailles Osmond Beauvarlet

Antique wall clock in chased bronze and gilded with matte gold and burnished gold, "Model of royal quality" work of the most prestigious craftsmen of the Louis XV - Louis XVI period: Louis-Antoine Beauvarlet master watchmaker in Paris in 1756 and Robert Osmond, bronzier. The neoclassical case in an elongated cartouche with a base narrowed to the leaf base, the two anterior angles in acanthus leaf with a butt on two lateral falls of laurel with pearls, sides in openwork scrolls, is entirely made of very finely chiseled and gilded bronze. matt gold and burnished gold. The protruding circular dial molded on a laurel wreath; curved glass opening bezel, mounted with a white enamel plate with black Roman and Arabic numerals for the minutes, signed “Beauvarlet à Paris”, openworked bronze hands. Top with female mask under oval incense burner with grooves, rosettes and dice, the two rings supporting the fall of ribbon. Back entirely in sheet bronze. The restoration of the cartel allowed the dismantling of the dial to discover the signature of the enameller Barbezat on the back of the cartel and the date of 1777 (Elie Barbezat, rue Bertin Poiré in Paris, dial enameller from 1768). The original drawing of this cartel is reproduced under number 36 in a work kept in the collections of the INHA library (Recueil de Dessins. Models of clocks, years 1755-1780). This very elegant model, having retained the royal family (a first copy delivered in 1767 for the bedroom of Madame Victoire de France at the Palace of Versailles and a second was ordered a few years later for the apartments of the Dauphin, future Louis XVI, in Palace of Versailles), was a huge success with Parisian amateurs in the second half of the 18th century. A similar cartel in a larger format is displayed in the vestibule of the Nissim de Camondo museum in Paris. Robert Osmond (1711 - 1789), became master bronzier in Paris in 1746. A sworn member of his corporation, he was one of the first to endeavor to protect his rights as a creator by signing his works, a rare practice among bronzers of the time. from 1775, his nephew Jean Baptiste took over until 1784. The Osmonds had a prolific career and produced all kinds of furniture bronzes, including andirons, sconces and inkwells, today they are best known for their cases of clocks that they supplied to the best watchmakers of the time, like our cartel. Our cartel, by the quality of its gilding, of its movement is a piece of quality equivalent to royal orders, a beautiful amateur clock for a large collection or a museum. Excellent original condition: the gilded bronze has retained its 18th century mercury gilding in very good condition. The movement works. Complete overhaul on our watchmaker, movement completely disassembled, cleaned, overhauled. Width: 35cm Height: 72cm