Estimate

14.000 - 22.000

Session 4

14 December 2021

Hammer Price

Description

André-Antoine Ravrio (1759-1814) with movement by Jacques-François Vaillant
Gilt bronze
Semi-dome shaped
Depicting an Empire style room interior with piano playing female figure
Arched canopy of central clock dial decorated with musical instruments in low relief, flanked by two griffins and surmounted by two cherubs holding octagonal medallion with bust
Enamelled dial of Roman numbering signed "Vaillant à Paris"
The featured scene is traditionally identified as a depiction of Empress Josephine playing the piano at the Château de Malmaison
France, 19th century

56x50x16,5 cm

Category

Watches

ANDRÉ-ANTOINE RAVRIO (1759-1814)

André-Antoine Ravrio, born in Paris on October 23rd, 1759, belonged to the late 18th century generation of master crafters that stood out in the early 19th century from the group of French First Empire decorative bronze founders. A contemporary of Pierre Philippe Thomire (1752-1843), rated as the most important bronzer of his generation, Ravrio would also distinguish himself as a major figure amongst his contemporaries. Born to a family of artisans, once his studies were completed, Ravrio dedicated his time to learning how to work the bronze, reaching the rank of founder in 1777. In 1786 he acquired a goldsmith business in Paris and in 1806, after many years managing those premises, he settled at Rue de la Roi, today Rue de Richelieu, keeping a workshop in Rue Montmartre. In his early career Ravrio cooperated with cabinet makers such as Georges Jacob, Guillaume Benneman or Ferdinand Bury, to whom he supplied the ornamental bronze mounts that decorated and enriched their furniture. It was not until the Empire that his career would take him in a different path as a bronze founder. Researching his workshop record books it is evident that he employed hundreds of crafters, similarly to the sculptor and bronze founder Jean-Jacques Feuchère (1807-1852) who employed 150 or to Pierre-Philippe Thomire who employed approximately 800. Ravrio became famous for the small bronzes that he sold to a wealthy, discerning and prestigious clientele, namely the Emperor and the Empress, for whose apartments at the Tuileries Palace he supplied bronze furniture. In 1810 he is appointed supplier to the French Imperial House becoming, on the redecoration of the palaces of Compiegne, Rambouillet, Saint Cloud, Versailles and Fontainebleau, a favoured supplier of clocks and luminaries to the guardemeuble de la Couronne. Additionally, he also worked in overseas projects, namely for the Quirinale Palace in Rome, for Montecavallo, for Stupinigi in Turin, for King Ludwig of Holland and many other prestigious clients and renowned Paris residences such as the Elysée, for which he created the famous Char de Vénus clock. This particular model, depicting Venus driving a chariot while a shepherd talks the Deity of Love, much appreciated during the Empire, was replicated in various variations. With success came substantial reward that granted him a comfortable life and a large house filled with works of art and expensive furniture as well as a large library of classical literature. The Louvre Museum keeps a portrait of André-Antoine Ravrio painted by his cousin Henri-François Riesener, son of the cabinet maker Jean-Henri Riesener, that conveys a prosperous and welleducated man surrounded by books, bronzes and an open drafts book. Excepting his adopted son Louis-Stanislas Lenoir-Ravrio (1784-1846), no other of his children survived him. Louis-Stanislas became Ravrio’s partner in 1811 and it was he who maintained the business after his father’s death on October 4th, 1814, presumably by mercury poisoning related causes. It is nonetheless curious that in life he had established a three-thousand francs award towards the discovery of a means to prevent the professional harm caused by mercury to bronze workers. Ravrio’s works can be seen in various private and public collections namely at the Mobilier National and the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Royal Collection in London, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Design Museum in New York, where it is possible to find a piece identical to the one that we are presenting for sale at auction. Clock: On a plain trapezoidal stand held by four arches along the borders, this clock portrays the interior of a music room on a stage, crowned by a semi-circular pediment – where the clock dial is fitted - flanked by two griffins and a pair of winged cherubs holding an octagonal plaque with a bust of Apollo. The circular white enamelled dial is flanked by classical lyre trophies. The interior features a background with a large central door, decorated with two Victories of Samothrace and two side windows hidden by curtains. In the centre a piano playing female seated on an Empire chair. The minutia of detail is evidenced by the winged griffin shaped piano feet and by the detail of the upright music stand. The “Vaillant à Paris” signature that appears on the enamel dial is that of the watchmaker Louis-Jacques Vaillant. One of the most important Parisian watchmakers of the 1st French Empire. Most likely from the family of the French watchmaker Jacques-François Vaillant. His conversion passed through the family's workshops on Quaides Augustins, becoming a master on February 12, 1787. He quickly achieved success with influential collectors. In 1800 he had his workshop on rue de la Tixéranderie and from 1812 to 1817 on rue de la Verrerie. His pieces appear in the inventories of personalities such as Viscount Charles-Marie-Philippe Huchet de la Bedoyère (1786-1815), Charles-JeanFrançois de Malon de Bercy (1779-1809) and Count de La Rochefoucauld, Alexandre-François.

TIAGO FRANCO RODRIGUES

BIBLIOGRAFIA/LITERATURE: Denise Ledoux-Lebard – Versailles - Le Petit Trianon - Le mobilier des inventaires de 1807, 1810, et 1839, Paris 1989. Elke Niehüser, “Die Französische Bronzeuhr”, 1997. Ernest Dumonthier – Les Bronzes du Mobilier National – Pendules et Cartels, Bronzes d’éclairage et de chauffage, 1911. G. Brusa, A. Griseri and S. Pinto – Orologi negli arredi del Palazzo Reale di Torino e delle residenze sabaude, 1988. Hans Ottomeyer and Peter Pröschel – Vergoldete Bronzen, 1986. M. Agnellini, “Orologi Antichi – Storia e Produzione dal Cinquecento all’Ottocento”, 1993, p. 160. Pierre Kjellberg – Encyclopédie de la Pendule Française du Moyen Age au XXe Siècle", 1997.