A LATE LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED VERDE ANTICO MARBLE 'PENDULE AUX VESTALES'

This attractive clock is modelled as a triumphal arch evocative of an Antique temple. The central relief panel depicting a harvest sacrifice at the altar is framed by Vestals in niches, each bearing a sacrificial vase and ewer. Illustrating "le goût étrusque" that was popularized at the end of the reign of Louis XVI, the scene of Vestal virgins conducting their sacrifice to the gods is one which has also capurted the imagination of the leading designers Jean-Démosthène Dugourc and Jean-Guillaume Miotte, both of whom created similarly inspired models for clocks, now in the collections of the The J. Paul Getty and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (see H. Ottomeyer/P. Pröschl, Vergoldete Bronzen, München 1987, p. 299, plates 4.18.8-9). Such works, including the present lot, were intended to be placed on the mantelpiece, and thus the symbolism of the Vestals tending to the flame of the Temple of Vesta, Goddess of the Hearth, is entirely in keeping. A nearly identical model to this clock, which was surmounted by an eagle finial and with some variations to the decoration of the niches and the bas relief panels, was offered Christie's, London, 4 December 2008, lot 99.
The maker, Jacques-Auguste D'Etour (or Détour) is known to have been active in Paris from 1776. Further clocks by D'Etour include an ormolu mantel clock sold from 'Galerie Yves Mikaeloff, The Eclectic Eye' at Christie's, New York, 21 May 1997, lot 334, and a lyre clock (a related design of which is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) which was sold at Christie's, New York, 29 September 1999, lot 336.