About the Artwork
This monumental clock is one of four early eighteenth-century "Clocks of the Four Continents," so named because of the sumptuous gilt-bronze half-length figures—representing Africa, Europe, Asia, and America—surrounding the face. A gilt-bronze plaque on the pedestal shows Hercules relieving Atlas of the weight of the world. The case and pedestal are attributed to André-Charles Boulle, who popularized the technique of tortoiseshell and metal marquetry at the French court. The enameled plaque below the dial is inscribed "Julien Le Roy"; he provided the works for the clock.
Pedestal Clock
ca. 1720
Julien Le Roy (Collaborator) French, 1686 - 1759 Andre-Charles Boulle and his sons (Maker) French, 1642-1732 Gilles-Marie Oppenord (Maker) French, 1672-1742
Carcass of oak with veneer of tortoiseshell, tortoiseshell and brass marquetry, and gilt-bronze mounts
Overall: 110 1/4 × 27 1/8 × 13 1/2 inches (280 × 68.9 × 34.3 cm)
Timepieces
European Sculpture and Dec Arts
Founders Society Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Horace E. Dodge Memorial Fund, Josephine and Ernest Kanzler Fund and J. Lawrence Buell, Jr. Fund
1984.87
This work is in the public domain.
Markings
Inscribed enamel plaque below clock face: JULIEN / LE ROY
Provenance
Anthony J. Drexel, II (1864-1934), London, c. 1895-1915
D. L. Isaacs (dealer), London, 1915
Mr. and Mrs. Eric Langfeldt, Langenesbygd, Norway (by descent from Mrs. Langfeldt's father - name unknown - who bought it from D.L. Isaacs c. 1915)
Alexander & Berendt Ltd. (dealer), London, 1981
For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
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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.
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de Champeaux, A. Portefeuille, vol. II. Paris, 1885, p. 86.
de Champeaux, A. Portefeuille, vol. III. Paris, 1890, pl. 266.
Molinier, E. Le Mobilier Au Xviie Et Au Xviiie Siecle. Paris, 1896, pl. 13.
Strange, T. A. French Interiors, Furniture Decoration during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. London, n.d.a., p. 161.
Vacquier, J. Les Vieux Hotels De Paris, vol. 10. Paris, 1914, pl. 37.
de Ricci, S. Louis XIV und Regence. New York, 1929, p. 137.
Mongruel, A. "Pendule a la Bibliotheque de l'Arsenal a Paris." Revue Francaise Des Bijoutiers Et Horlogers 70 (August 1946): 67-69.
Watson, F. J. B. "Furniture." Wallace Collection Catalogue (1956): 19-20, no. F42, pl. 48.
Louis Xiv Exhibition, Faste et Decors. Exh. cat., Musee des Arts Decoratifs. Paris, 1960, p. 32, no. 157.
Verlet, P. Styles, Meubles, Decors, Du Moyen Age A Nos Jours. Paris, 1972, p. 180.
Britten, F. J. Old Clocks and Watches and their Makers. London, 1973, pp. 446-449.
de Bellaigue, G. Furniture, Clocks and Gilt Bronzes. The James A. De Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor Catalogue 1. Fribourg, 1974, pp. 51-55, cat. no. 3.
Wilson, G. French Eighteenth Century Clocks in the J. Paul Getty Museum. Malibu, CA, 1976, pp. 12-17, cat. no. 2
Naissance De La Louisiane Exhibition. Exh. cat., Hotel de Rohan. Paris, 1982, p. 130, cat. no. 365.
Tardy, Avallon. La Pendule Francaise. Vol. 1, Des Origines Au Louis XV. Paris, 1981, p. 142, pls. 1-2.
Wilson, G. Selections from the Decorative Arts in the J. Paul Getty Museum. Malibu, 1983, pp. 18-19.
The Detroit News, July 25, 1984, pp. 1A, 4A (ill.).
The Detroit Free Press, July 26, 1984, p. 7C (ill.).
100 Masterworks from the Detroit Institute of Arts. New York, 1985, pp. 144-145 (ill.).
Bulletin of the DIA: Annual Report 62, no. 2 (1985): p. 14, (fig. 14).
Ottomeyer, H. and P. Pröschel. Vergoldete Bronzen, vol. 1. Munich, 1987, p. 41, fig. 1.2.7.
Darr, A. P. "European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Accquired by the Detroit Institute of Arts 1978-87." The Burlington Magazine 130 (June 1988): 497, figs. 106-7.
Bremer-David, C. et al. Decorative Arts: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue of the Collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum. Malibu, 1993, pp. 84-5.
Hughes, P. French Eighteenth-Century Clocks and Barometers in the Wallace Collection. London, 1994, pp. 28-9.
Hughes, P. The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Furniture, vol. 1. London, 1996, pp. 365-75.
Wilson, G. et al. European Clocks in the J. Paul Getty Museum. Malibu, 1996, pp 164-73.
Barnet, Peter. "From the Middle Ages to the Victorians." Apollo 124, no. 298 (December 1986): 498–505, pp. 503-504 (ill.).
Dell, T. et al. The Dodge Collection of 18th Century French and English Art in the Collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1996, Appendix II, pp. 235-40, repr. color p. 237, details pp. 18, 239.
Ronfort, Jean Nérée, ed. André Charles Boulle, 1642–1732: A New Style for Europe. Paris, 2011, pp. 244–245.
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Credit Line for Reproduction
workshop of Andre-Charles Boulle and his sons; after Gilles-Marie Oppenord; Julien Le Roy, Pedestal Clock, ca. 1720, carcass of oak with veneer of tortoiseshell, tortoiseshell and brass marquetry, and gilt-bronze mounts. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Horace E. Dodge Memorial Fund, Josephine and Ernest Kanzler Fund and J. Lawrence Buell, Jr. Fund, 1984.87.
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