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Louis-Auguste Marquis (French, 1811-1885)
Astronomy Clock, c…
See original version (French)
355
-
Louis-Auguste Marquis (French, 1811-1885)
Astronomy Clock, c…
See original version (French)
Estimate €2,000 - €3,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Louis-Auguste Marquis (French, 1811-1885)
Astronomy Clock, c.1851
Gilt bronze, finely chased.
Of terminal form, decorated with seated representations of Ptolemy, Galileo, Copernicus and Newton with a female allegory and a figure of Cronos.
The enamelled dial signed "Marquis" with the hours in Roman numerals and the "Avance Retard" dots at noon. The two-week reserve movement bears the watchmakers' stamps: "Marquis Pons" and "Pons médaille d'or1827".
Bronzier: Louis-Auguste Marquis (1811-1885), associated from 1838 to 1844 with Gilbert-Honoré Chaumont (1790-1868), established at 25 rue Chapon in Paris, then, under the Second Empire, at 66 boulevard de Strasbourg.
Watchmaker : Pierre Honoré César Pons (1773-1851), who revived the watchmaking business in Saint-Nicolas d'Aliermont, was active in Paris until 1846, when he sold his company to Delepine.
Height 58 Width 39 Depth 21 cm.
Excellent overall condition; small accident to the dial, missing key and balance wheel.
Provenance: private collection, Touraine.
Gilt bronze Astronomy clock by Marquis, circa 1851.
Associated with Gilbert-Honoré Chaumont (1790-1868) as "Fabricant du Mobilier de la Couronne", supplying the Giroux and Beurdeley houses as well as the royal family, such as the fire in the Princes' salon in 1838 at the Grand Trianon, Louis-Auguste Marquis (1811-1885) worked alone from 1844 onwards. His work includes references to the great bronziers of the previous century, such as the Osmond dynasty, Thomire and Pierre Gouthière. He paid homage to the fathers of astronomy, whether Greek with Ptolemy, Italian with Galileo, Polish like Copernicus or English following Newton. It was in the 1840s that Newtonian celestial mechanics triumphed, when Le Verrier calculated the position of Neptune. In 1851, Foucault and Arago invited Parisians to come and see the earth turn by hanging their famous pendulum from the vault of the Panthéon, paying a final tribute to Galileo: "And yet it turns!
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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