Gudin à Paris

Small « musical instruments » ormolu wall cartel signed Gudin à Paris, Louis XVI period, circa 1780. Two-train movement, with anchor recoil escapement of the tic-tac type and silk-suspended pendulum. Half-hourly strike on a sivered bell, with countwheel. Two-weeks autonomy. Enamel dial with Roman numerals for the hours and Arabic numerals for the five-minutes intervals. Cursive signature of Gudin à Paris on the front, and very rare and unusually dated signature of the enameler Coteau on the back, with the date “26 mai 1776”. Very finely cut, engraved and gilt brass hands. Fire-gilded bronze case of architectural form with flower and fruit garlands, acanthus leaves, surmounted by a musical instrument ensemble, with trumpets, tambourine, lyra, musical partitions ans ribbons.

Dimensions

H. 17" (45 cm), W. 9" (21 cm), D. 4½" (11 cm)

Jacques-Jérôme GUDIN

(Paris, 1732 - † after 1789), signed Gudin fils, then Gudin. Son of Jacques and Henriette Lenoir. Married to Geneviève-Victoire Marteau. Made master on May 12th, 1762 (F.M.). Quai des Orfèvres (1762), rue Saint-Honoré (1783) and worked with J.B.A. Furet. He used cases by J.J. de Saint Germain, R. and J.B. Osmond, F.Vion, and J.A. Alban. He worked for the Prince of Conti, the Princess of Monaco, and the Duke of Choiseul.

Bibliography

Tardy Dictionnaire des horlogers français, Paris, 1972; Jean-Dominique Augarde Les Ouvriers du Temps, La Pendule à Paris de Louis XIV à Napoléon Ier, Genève 1996.

Musea

Brussels, Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire ; Dresden, Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon ; Frankfurt : A.M., Museum für Kunsthandwerck ; Paris, Musée du Louvre ; Musée des Arts Décoratifs ; Stockholm, Royal Collections.