Live Auction 17185The Collector: European and English Furniture, Ceramics, Portrait Miniatures & Works of Art
A LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED MEISSEN PORCELAIN MANTEL CLOCK
Lot 109 PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF BARONESS CARMEN THYSSEN-BORNEMISZA (LOTS 57 & 109-127)

A LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED MEISSEN PORCELAIN MANTEL CLOCK

MID-18TH CENTURY, THE MEISSEN PORCELAIN CIRCA 1740, FOUR PRESSNUMMERN 48 TO UNDERSIDE OF BASE, THE CONTINENTAL PORCELAIN FLOWERS 18TH CENTURY AND LATER, THE MOVEMENT BY TAYOT, PARIS

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GBP 122,500

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A LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED MEISSEN PORCELAIN MANTEL CLOCK
MID-18TH CENTURY, THE MEISSEN PORCELAIN CIRCA 1740, FOUR PRESSNUMMERN 48 TO UNDERSIDE OF BASE, THE CONTINENTAL PORCELAIN FLOWERS 18TH CENTURY AND LATER, THE MOVEMENT BY TAYOT, PARIS
The ormolu pierced foliate scroll base mounted with a Meissen figure of the Greeting Harlequin, modelled by J.J. Kändler, leaning forward in a bow, holding his hat in both hands, before a foliate stem supporting a drum barrel clock-case moulded with further ormolu flowers and scrolling branches and flanked by leafy branches mounted with porcelain flowers, the enamel dial with Roman and Arabic chapters, the movement with spring balance, the backplate signed 'Tayot / a Paris'
12 ½ in. (31.7 cm.) high overall

Specialist note

Kändler's Taxa records the model as 'A Harlequin with his hat making a very deep bow. 2 Thalers.', and Ingelore Menzhausen has suggested that the inspiration for this grussender Harlequin model is the engraving of the Expulsion of the Italian Comedians in 1697 after a lost painting of Watteau. Meredith Chilton, in Harlequin Unmasked, Singapore, 2001, pp. 124-126, discusses this specific bowing pose, which appears to reflect a movement performed by the Commedia dell'Arte actors. She also illustrates the example in the Gardiner Museum, Toronto, fig. 199, and quotes Pierre Rameau's description of the pose in his 1714 publication Maître à danser:
'In regard to the passing bow, this is done in the same manner as the bow forwards, save the body must be turned diagonally towards the persons you salute. That is, you turn half-sideways towards them, sliding forwards the foot that is nearest them, whether it be the right or the left, bending at the waist and inclining the head at the same time...'
Also see Dr. Erika Pauls-Eisenbeiss, German Porcelain of the 18th Century, London, 1972, Vol. I, pp. 272-273 for a list of the other known examples. Another example was sold Christie's, London, 11 December 2007, lot 130.