Rare combination and secret lock in brass, gilt... Lot 38 B

Rare combination and secret lock in brass, gilt bronze and steel, made by Ambroise POUX-LAUDRY and dedicated to Charles- Alexandre de CALONNE, general controller of finances. It is completed by its handle and a strike plate. The rectangular palate is extended by a gendarme hat. It presents a mobile shutter, mounted on hinges, revealing the mechanism. The external face of the shutter is engraved with ancient divinities: Minerva and Astraea crowning the figure of Mr. de CALONNE with a marquis crown. The monogram of CALONNE is surrounded by the collars of the orders of Saint Michael and the Holy Spirit. Astraea and Minerva are represented, flanked by their attributes on top of clouds. In the background: a Renommée on clouds and a temple in the antique style. Thin frame engraved with a frieze of acanthus leaves caught between two fillets. On the reverse side of the shutter is a detailed description of this scene, finely calligraphed and ending with the inscription approved by the Royal Academy of Sciences, Inv and ex by Ambroise and his brother Poux-Laudry in 1786. Under this shutter is the complex steel and brass mechanism with two bolts and a lock, presenting four small bronze or steel knobs activating the different secrets independently of the handle or the key. A beautiful violin-shaped plate engraved with a double-headed eagle, framed by friezes of channels and foliage, fixes the mechanism. On the reverse side of the cast (formerly hidden in a precious wooden case) appear the various other external elements of the mechanism: handle axis, key receiver and barrel, spring.... (There are accidents, missing parts and probably some alterations, especially for the handle). The edge of the headstock is engraved with the approved inscription of the Accadémie (sic) Roiale (sic) des Sciences. A small flat rod finished with a guilloche knob extends the bolt outside the case. The handle, circular, surrounded by a row of pearls, is engraved on the outside with a frieze of laurel framing a crown of marquis; in the center it presents a round medallion, engraved with the arms of CALONNE, which by pressure activated the half-turn of the lock. The key, missing, was with a drilled stem and a bit with a C. This lock is completed by a small strike plate also finished with a gendarme's hat presenting a decoration of masonic attributes intertwined around a terrestrial globe caught in the clouds. The whole is framed by a frieze of posts caught between two nets. Curiously, the upper and lower parts of this strike plate fit into each other by a set of slides. Although surely of the same factor, this strike is not that of the lock of CALONNE whose positioning of the bolts does not allow the introduction in the strike. Similarly, the frame of the posts of the strike does not correspond to that of the lock (acanthus leaf). It was probably added to our set to complete it but comes from another lock of POUX-LAUDRY. We know of a few other locks by the same maker (all destined for very high people!) including the one in the LE SEQ des TOURNELLES collection dedicated to the Duke Louis Philippe d'ORLÉANS. A very rare work by POUX-LAUDRY with a few very rare variants (see above). Paris 1786. Another dedicated to Louis XVI, and another to the Queen. Both dated 1787 (inv. 937/1 and 2). Another one dedicated to the princess of LAMBALLE sold between 1980 and 1990.