A Directoire ormolu, griotte marble and Sèvres porcelain mantel clock, Joseph Revel, Paris, circa 1795

4-inch enamel dial with concentric date and signed Revel A Paris and Dubuis, the movement with silk suspension, star-cut count wheel striking on a bell, flat-bottomed plates, the hexagonal drum surmounted by Cupid seated in a chariot drawn by birds amidst billowing clouds and floral swags, supported on a column with a mount depicting putti with a goat in a garden, above gryphon feet, the whole flanked by Sèvres biscuit figures 'La Leçon de l'Amour' and 'La Leçon à l'Amour' after Louis-Simon Boizot, the griotte marble base with floral mounts inset with Sèvres 'jasper-ware' plaques, on sphinx supports, on a black marble plinth with gilt bun feet; with an ebonised stand and glazed cover 

Jean-Dominique Augarde, Les Ouvriers du Temps, ed. Antiquorum, pp. 44-45, plate 28

Dial has a number of minor hair cracks radiating from around the edge and another through the regulation arbor at 12, hands in good condition. Movement needs a clean and service, bell stand repaired, bell detached but we have it, bell hammer lacking, pendulum lacking but otherwise complete. Case is in generally very good condition throughout, gilding in good condition with some very minor discolouration to the rear feet of the sphinxes, both porcelain groups in good condition though a little dirty, porcelain plaques in good condition, red marble base in very good condition, black marble plinth has minor edge chips, ebonised wood plinth has evidence of old worm holes, glass over is in good condition. No pendulum or winder.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. All dimensions in catalogue descriptions are approximate. Condition reports may not specify mechanical replacements or imperfections to the movement, case, dial, pendulum, separate base(s) or dome. Watches in water-resistant cases have been opened to examine movements but no warranties are made that the watches are currently water-resistant. Please note that we do not guarantee the authenticity of any individual component parts, such as wheels, hands, crowns, crystals, screws, bracelets and leather bands, since subsequent repairs and restoration work may have resulted in the replacement of original parts. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue. In particular, please note it is the purchaser's responsibility to comply with any applicable import and export matters, particularly in relation to lots incorporating materials from endangered species.NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

**Please be advised that bands made of materials derived from endangered or otherwise protected species (i.e. alligator and crocodile) are not sold with the watches and are for display purposes only. We reserve the right to remove these bands prior to shipping."

This most attractive mantel clock unites the finest designers and craftsmen for which late 18th century France had become justifiably renowned.  The great skill here is the way in which the diverse crafts of the horologist, stoneworker, enameller, porcelain sculptor, bronzier and chisleur combine so satisfactorily in the very latest fashion of the day.

Although little is known of the early life of the clockmaker Joseph-Marie Revel, he is renowned for incorporating his movements and dials into cases contributed to by the finest craftsmen. It is not known where he trained but he became a master clockmaker in 1775 and shortly afterwards established himself in the Vieille rue du Temple. By the time he created the present clock he had moved to 118 Palais Royal followed by Palais Egalité, circa 1800. He died in 1811.

Etienne Gobin, known as Dubuisson (d. circa 1822), watch and clock enameller, worked at Chantilly and Sèvres as a flower painter. He is recorded in the Rue de la Huchette in the 1790s before moving to Rue de la Calandre around 1812.  Along with Joseph Coteau, Dubuisson was responsible for the finest enamelled clock dials of the latter part of the 18th century. Clocks by Revel have been recorded with dials by both of these important enamellers. The dial of the present clock is unusual in being signed Dubuis rather than in full.

The finely chiselled bronzes of this clock bear many similarities with the work of François Rémond, (1742-1812). Rémond provided ormolu mounts to a number of important late 18th century clockmakers, including Revel, and is famous for his renderings in bronze and ormolu of the work of the sculptor Louis-Simon Boizot, namely the seated figures known as L'Etude. In the present clock it is the figures of gryphons and sphinxes and the floral swags that are particularly characteristic of Rémond.

Louis-Simon Boizot, (1743-1809), was a trained sculptor and was admitted to the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1778. He is particularly known for the white biscuit porcelain figures that were produced at Sèvres during his supervision of their workshops between 1773 and 1800. The figures  'La Leçon de l'Amour' and 'La Leçon à l'Amour', (The Lesson of Love and The Lesson to Love) were created by Boizot in 1794 and are illustrated in E Bourgeois and G Lechevalier, Le Biscuit de Sèvres, Chevignard, Vol. 1, pp. 48, figs. 383 and 384.

An almost identical clock signed by Antoine Philibert, Paris, is in the Huntington Collection, San Marino, California having been purchased in Paris by Mrs Arabella Huntington in 1910 for $6000 (fig.1). It is illustrated and described in S M Bennett and C Sargentson, French Art of the Eighteenth Century at The Huntington, edn. 2008, No.51, pp. 154.

A very similar clock with ormolu rather than Sèvres figures is in the collection of the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersbourg and was exhibited in The Triumph of Eros, Art and Seduction in 18th Century France, held in the Hermitage Rooms at Somerset House, London between November 2006 and April 2007 and illustrated and described in the catalogue for that exhibition pp. 79, plate 31 (fig.2). That clock having been in the collection of Prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov, (1750-1831), and recorded from 1810 in Moscow. In 1819 it was transferred to the Arkhangelsoye Palace and in 1850 to the Yusupov Palace in St Petersburg. It remained in the Yusopov family until 1917 and was transferred to the Hermitage State Museum in 1925.