THE DIAL AND MOVEMENT SIGNED BENOIST GERARD / À PARIS, THE PORCELAIN AND ORMOLU CIRCA 1740, THE FLOWERS LARGELY 18TH CENTURY

During the 1740's through the end of the 1750's, these porcelain-mounted French clocks were popular throughout Europe. Their success was due primarily to the efforts of the Parisian marchands-merciers such as Lazare Duvaux, who ordered porcelain pieces to be fitted into the bronze mounts, most notably the figures and flowers from the Meissen and Vincennes factories. The Vincennes factory was established in 1745 to compete with Meissen, and these flowers were one of their earliest and most successful productions. They remained a popular form of decoration, used in vases, clocks and most often lighting fixtures. A similar clock at Waddesdon Manor is illustrated in G. De Bellaigue, the James A. De Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor: Furniture, Clocks and Bronzes, London, 1974, vol, I, p. 98. Benoist Gerard Benoist II Gerard and his son, Jean-Benoist, collaborated under the same signature form 1743 until the former's death in 1758. By 1748, they were located on the Rue Dauphine and in 1753, they moved to the Quai Conti. Another, very similar clock also with movement by Gerard, was sold anonymously, Christie's, New York, 11 February 2000, lot 151.