HENRI-CHARLES BALTHAZAR († avant 1776) & BALTHAZAR... Lot n° 36

IMPORTANT "LE TEMPS ET L'AMOUR" PENDULUM Paris, Transition Louis XV-Louis XVI period Gilt bronze, ebony and enamel Dial signed BALTHAZAR A PARIS H. 64 cm, W. 50 cm, D. 23 cm Missing This important gilt bronze clock represents Time sitting in clouds and reveals the movement resting on a terrace where Cupid, a bust of a young woman and an upside down column are placed. The base, attributed to Balthazar Lieutaud, is adorned with water leaves and rosettes, while the ebony counter-base with diamond points and a post frieze. The whole rests on small leafy spinning tops. The dial, signed BALTHAZAR A PARIS, shows the hours in Roman numerals and the minutes in Arabic numerals in increments of five. Chronos, the god personifying Time and Destiny, is an essential figure in European artistic iconography and had a major influence in the French decorative arts at the end of the 17th century and throughout the following century, particularly in certain watchmaking creations. Particularly on certain clocks by André-Charles Boulle (fig. 1), Chronos will be much less present on the neoclassical creations of the second half of the 18th century and will appear, almost exclusively, on models of clocks with rare compositions and often monumental proportions. Our model was made in this particular context. It is part of the great allegorical-figure watchmaking of the end of the reign of Louis XV or the beginning of the reign of Louis XVI and can be related, by its theme, to a few rare other clocks made in the same spirit, notably a first model in white marble and gilded bronze, the case made by Jean Hauré (fig. 2) as well as a second, the figures of Augustin Pajou cast by Étienne Martincourt, which belongs to the Wallace Collection in London (fig. 3). Finally, it should be noted that to our knowledge only one other clock of an identical model to the one presented is listed; it was part of the famous Sichel collection dispersed in Paris in 189