Live Auction 7864500 Years: Decorative Arts Europe
A LOUIS XV STYLE ORMOLU AND PATINATED BRONZE STRIKING ELEPHANT CLOCK (PENDULE A L'ELEPHANT)
Lot 196 THE PROPERTY OF A EUROPEAN COLLECTOR

A LOUIS XV STYLE ORMOLU AND PATINATED BRONZE STRIKING ELEPHANT CLOCK (PENDULE A L'ELEPHANT)

THE DIAL SIGNED BY JEAN FRANÇOIS BÉECKAERT, PARIS. THE MOVEMENT AND DIAL 18TH CENTURY, THE CASE 20TH CENTURY

Closed8 July 2010

Price Realised

GBP 12,500

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A LOUIS XV STYLE ORMOLU AND PATINATED BRONZE STRIKING ELEPHANT CLOCK (PENDULE A L'ELEPHANT)
THE DIAL SIGNED BY JEAN FRANÇOIS BÉECKAERT, PARIS. THE MOVEMENT AND DIAL 18TH CENTURY, THE CASE 20TH CENTURY
CASE: an elephant on naturalistically cast base supporting clock case with scroll frames to silk-backed side frets, surmounted by a seated Chinaman DIAL: white enamel, signed 'BÉECKAERT/A PARIS', ormolu hands MOVEMENT: twin going barrels and anchor escapement, countwheel strike on bell; pendulum, winding key
21 in. (53 cm.) high; 12½ in. (32 cm.) wide; 8¼ in. (21 cm.) deep

Specialist note

Jean-François Béeckaert (or Bekerr) is recorded as maître and presenting his masterpiece in 1746. He worked at rue du Petit Bourbon (1746), rue de Bussy (1748), quai des Orfèvres (1754) and rue de la Coutellerie (1772). Examples of his work are in Palazzo Pitti, Florence; musée du Petit Palais, Paris; Schloss Sanssouci, Potsdam.
A clock of closely related design to the present model, with its Chinaman holding an umbrella, is illustrated in P. Kjellberg, L'Encyclopédie de La Pendule Française, Paris, 1997, p. 125 and another in Tardy, French Clocks, Volume I, Paris, 1981, p. 284. The design of the pendule à l'éléphant is attributed to Jacques Caffieri.