A patinated and gilt bronze "portefaix" clock representing a Nubian bust and bare feet, wearing a hat, a gourd attached to his waist, leaning on a bamboo cane and carrying a woven basket in which is inscribed the enamelled dial with Roman numerals for the hours signed Balthazar in Paris. It rests on an oval base decorated with two small baskets in which two birds are pecking and two palm branches between which a monkey is resting on a rope, finished with small runners. Beginning of the 19th century (minor wear) H. 35 cm W. 26 cm D. 10.5 cm This model was made after a watercolor drawing by Jean-André Reiche deposited in January 1808 and kept in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (inv.LD 4127). An identical clock was shown at the exhibition: - "Pendule au Nègre" St Omer Musée de l'Hôtel Sandelin from 29 April to 12 June 1978 ""p.13 fig. 5 - "De Noir et d'Or", pendules " au bon sauvage", Brussels , Musée Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire 1993. - "La pendule à sujet" St Omer Musée de l'Hôtel Sandelin from June 26 to September 12 1993 n°3. One example is reproduced in the work of - Elke Niehüser, French Bronze Clocks, Munich 1999, Schiffer Ed. p. 149, fig. 240 - Pierre Kjellberg, Encyclopédie de la pendule française, Paris 1994, l'Amateur Ed. p. 343, Fig D.
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