Gouache And Wash Clock Project

A superb and rare example of a clock design, a variation based on a work by François Boucher, painted in wash and enhanced with gouache, depicting an allegory of time. 
Artist unknown; an antique piece, likely from the early 20th century. Presented in a 19th-century frame with original gilding. Original label on the back with a number.
Overall dimensions: 41.5 x 31.5 cm.
Image dimensions: 29.5 x 21.5 cm.

This variant is a very rare example of an original work by François Boucher seized by the Nazis in 1939 from the Rothschild family. Hidden in a mine as the Allies advanced, the original did not resurface until after the war ended and was sold in 1949 to Siegfried Kramarsky. 

The version of the sketch in our possession is therefore particularly rare, as the work remained in private collections until 1998. However, the age of the paper indicates that this drawing was indeed created before the work was publicly exhibited... Is it a copy made when the original work was seized in 1939? Or an earlier version by a close family member who might have had access to it?

No other variant or copy of this sketch is currently known, much less one of such age. 

The original has been on display at the Carlos Museum since 1998.