About the Artwork
Astronomical clocks were a specialty of Lépine. One of the most innovative Parisian clockmakers, he supplied unique and elaborate clocks to the French court and foreign clients, including Marie-Antoinette, Louis XVI's brother, and the king of Spain. The finely chased gilt-bronze laurel branches, ribbons, lyre, pine cone finial, and bas relief of putti playing musical instruments represent the unprecedented refinement of French design at the end of the eighteenth century.
Mantel Clock
ca. 1784
Jean Antoine Lépine (Artist) French, 1720-1814 Étienne Martincourt (Artist) French, 1763-1791 Claude-Pierre Raguet, called Lepine (Maker) French, 1753-1810
Marble, ormolu
Overall: 24 7/8 × 27 1/4 × 8 inches (63.2 × 69.2 × 20.3 cm)
Timepieces
European Sculpture and Dec Arts
Bequest of Mrs. Horace E. Dodge in memory of her husband
71.215
This work is in the public domain.
Markings
Inscribed, on the central dial: LEPINE | HGER DU ROI Inscribed, on the left dial: INVENIT Inscribed, on the right dial: ET FECIT Inscribed, on the mechanism: LEPINE | HGER DU ROI, A PARIS NO4052 Inscribed, on the back of each subsidiary dial: G. MERLET Inscribed, on the gilt-bronze mount: EU
Provenance
ordered by Mesdames de France, Adélaïde and Victoire from Lepine for the Summer Reception Room at the Château de Bellevue (Meudon, France)
July 15, 1786-until at least January 16, 1795, Château de Bellevue (Meudon, France). by 1808, Napoléon Bonaparte [1769-1821]
1808, gift to Napoléon's archichancelier and Duke of Parma, Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès [1753-1824] (Hôtel d'Elbeuf, Paris, France and later Hôtel Molé, rue Saint-Dominique, Paris, France)
1816, sold to the dowager duchesse d'Orléans, Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon [1753-1821]
by descent to her son, Louis-Philippe [later King Louis-Philippe I] [1773-1850](Château d'Eu, Eu, France)
by descent to his son, the duc de Nemours, Louis d'Orléans [1814-1896]
by descent to his son, the duc d'Alençon, Ferdinand d'Orléans [1844-1910]
by descent to his brother, the duc de Vendôme, Emmanuel d'Orléans [1872-1931]
December 4, 1931, sold by (Galerie Georges Petit, Paris) estate sale of duc de Vendôme, lot 95
(Remion-Samary, Paris, France)
1931-1932, acquired by (L. Alavoine) on behalf of Anna Thomson Dodge (Grosse Pointe, Michigan, USA)
1932-1971, Anna Thomson Dodge (Grosse Pointe, Michigan, USA)
1971-present, bequest to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
Please note: This section is empty
The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Suggest FeedbackPublished References
Maze-Sencier, Alphonse. Le livre des collectionneurs: Les ébénistes, les ciseleurs-bronziers, les tabatières, 2nd ed. Paris, 1885, pp. 262, 282.
Sales cat., Galerie Georges Petit. Paris, May 10-14, 1886, lot 309.
Molinier, Émile. "Le mobilier français du XVIIIe siècle." Les arts, no. 1 (January 1902): pp. 19-23 (pl. 64).
Dreyfus, Carle. Musée National du Louvre: Catalogue sommaire du mobilier du XVIIe et du XVIIIe siècle. Paris, 1922, p. 76, no. 374, pl. XXXI.
Dreyfus, Carle. Musée du Louvre: Les objets d'art du VIIIe siècle, époque de Louis XVI. Paris, 1923, no. 18.
Baillie, G.H. Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World. London, 1929, p. 224.
Sales cat., Galerie Georges Petit. Paris, December 4, 1931, lot 95.
Britten, F.J. Old Clocks and Watches and Their Makers. London, 1932, p. 787.
Biver, Paul. Histoire du Chateau de Bellevue. Paris, 1933, pp. 252, 256, 260-261, 266, 270.
Morris, Gouverneur. A Diary of the French Revolution. Boston, 1939, p. 71.
Verlet, Pierre. The Eighteenth Century in France: Society, Decoration, Furniture. Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo, 1967, p. 205.
Bellaigue, Geoffrey de. Buckingham Palace. New York, 1968, pp. 166-167.
"Recent Acquisitions of American and Canadian Museums." The Art Quarterly 34 (Winter 1971): pp. 494-508, pp. 500, 505.
Sales cat., Palais Galliéra. Paris, March 23, 1971.
Winokur, Ronald L. "The Mr. and Mrs. Horace E. Dodge Memorial Collection." Bulletin of the DIA 50, no. 3 (1971): pp. 43-51.
Le Faubourg Saint-Germain, La Rue Saint-Dominique. Exh. cat., Musée Rodin. Paris, 1984, pp. 164-176.
Ottomeyer, Hans and Peter Pröschel. Vergoldete Bronzen, 2 vols. Munich, 1987, vol. I, p. 252.
Dumonthier, Ernest. Les bronzes du mobilier national : Pendules et cartels. Paris, no date, pl. 18, no. 1, pl. 22, no. 2, pl. 24, no. 1.
Les collections du musée de l'Union central des arts décoratifs, series 6. Paris, no date, pls. 33, 34.
Tardy. La pendule française, 2 vols. Paris, no date, p. 115.
Dell, T., et al. The Dodge Collection of Eighteenth-Century French and English Art at the Detroit Institute of Arts. New York and Detroit, 1996, no. 31, pp. 127-130 (color ill.) p. 129.
Kindly share your feedback or any additional information, as this record is still a work in progress and may need further refinement.
Suggest FeedbackCatalogue Raisoneé
Please note: This section is empty
Credit Line for Reproduction
Jean Antoine Lépine; Étienne Martincourt; Claude-Pierre Raguet, called Lepine, Mantel Clock, ca. 1784, marble, ormolu. Detroit Institute of Arts, Bequest of Mrs. Horace E. Dodge in memory of her husband, 71.215.
Feedback
We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction or improvement.
Suggest Feedback
