Dalva Brothers Antiques, Antique Furniture, New York

French 18th century furniture, clocks, lighting, paintings, porcelain, sculpture and tapestries

 

full screen image

print image and details

Terra cotta clock model by Philippe Laurent Roland
 
Terra cotta model of the Chariot of the Seasons by Philippe Laurent Roland (1746-1816). The sculpture depicts a lion-drawn chariot holding personifications of the Four Seasons: Spring sits in front and holds a floral garland; Summer holds a sheath of grass and a sickle; Fall formerly held aloft a bunch of grapes (now lacking); and Winter sits pensively in the rear, holding a lit brazier. The wheel of the chariot is empty to provide a space for the movement. [Fall’s left arm and right toe are lacking. Winter’s right toe is missing. Portions of the lions’ reins are missing. The figure of Cupid, who guided the chariot, is missing – his foot remains.]

The subject was cast in ormoulu as a clock case by Thomire, probably under the direction of the marchands-mercier Daguerre and Lignereux who owned this model and who often worked with Thomire. It is described in the inventory made after the death of Daguerre in 1796: “LX  Item un modèle de pendule de composition moderne exécuté en terre cuite représentant un char trainé par deux lions et portent quatre figures des quatre saisons prisé comme modèle pour être execute en bronze deux cent quarante francs, cy.
 (“LX  Item a model for a clock of modern composition representing a chariot pulled by two lions and carrying four figures of the four seasons used as a model to be executed in bronze two hundred forty francs, cy”). From Lemonnier.
A large bronze version from the Musée des Arts Décoratifs was in the Cast in Bronze exhibition held at the Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2009; it was possibly the chef modèle used by Thomire to fabricate the clocks. The present terra cotta is mentioned extensively in the catalogue.
Versions of the clock are in the Hermitage, (signed by Thomire), the Spanish royal collections and elsewhere.

Ex Collection: Dominique Daguerre. Paris, before 1796
                         Martin-Eloi Lignereux
                         Bouissou Collection, Paris

Literature: S. Lami: Dictionnaire des Sculpteurs de l’école française au XVIIIe siècle; Tome II, Paris, 1911. Page 301

 P. Lemonnier: Weisweiler; Paris, 1983. Page 164.

Hans Ottomeyer and Peter Pröschel: Vergoldete Bronzen, Klinkhardt & Bierman, 1986. Volume I; Page 342, fig. 5.5.1
                   
James David Draper: Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 27 (1992); Page 142, Figure 19
 
Iouna Zek: Bronzes d’ameublement et meubles français achetès par Paul Ier pour le château Saint-Michel de Saint-Pétersbourg en 1798-1799; Bulletin de la Société de l’histoire de l’art Francais, 1994. Page 142

G. Bresc-Bautier, G. Scherf, J.Draper: Cast in Bronze; Somogy, Paris, 2009. Page 494

Height (ins.): 6 (15 cm)      Length/Width (ins.): 9.5 (24 cm)      Depth (ins.): 3 (7.6 cm)
Origin: France     Period: Directoire

 

 

<< Previous Page