UNIQUE BRONZE SQUELETTE HANGER, CIRCA 1795-1805,... - Lot 290 - Osenat

Lot 290
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30000 - 40000 EUR
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Result : 46 125EUR
UNIQUE BRONZE SQUELETTE HANGER, CIRCA 1795-1805,... - Lot 290 - Osenat
UNIQUE BRONZE SQUELETTE HANGER, CIRCA 1795-1805, SIGNED LEPINE on the dial and Lépine in Paris on the front jambs. It bears the number 4553 on the back of the front left leg. On the dial, the number ''I'', surrounded by an oval, attests the construction of the clock by Jean-Antoine himself. Roman numerals for the hours, Arabic numerals for the minutes, bezel surmounted by an Apollo head in chased and gilded bronze, gilded brass hands for the hours and minutes, blued steel for the central second hand beating the half-second, structure with two plates in the shape of an inverted bronze "Y" with four knurled feet, adjustable in height on a red-griotte marble plate. Antoine Lépine has made several of these skeleton clocks with an inverted ''Y'' shape, but this one is unique because of the bronze alloy (tin-copper) used for both the structure and the movement, instead of brass, which gives a rare refinement in the clock mechanism. The purpose of this technical choice is to obtain a high resistance to oxidation, allowing the whole to keep an unalterable polish. Movement with constant force (two weights bent on a gantry) made of the same alloy (copper-tin) as the structure, Graham escapement, striking at the passage and at the half with a chaperone on the front plate and a horizontal gong under the movement, compensated balance (9-rod steel and gilded brass grill) with knife suspension. The clock presented in a display case (later) with chased and gilded bronze edges, green marble base. Dimensions out of the display case : Height : 50 cm. 50 cm - Width : 27cm Depth : 20cm. Jean-Antoine Lépine, famous watchmaker, was born in Challex in the Pays de Gex, on November 18, 1720. From his childhood, the young Lépine showed a taste for mechanics, so he made rapid progress under the direction of Mr. Decrose, a watch manufacturer in Saconnex. At the age of 24, he left for Paris, and was soon noticed by his works. The king's watchmaker, Mr. Caron, wanted him as a partner and gave him his daughter in marriage. This establishment provided Lépine with the means to carry out the experiments he had been planning to perfect his art, and the watches that have kept his name have produced a veritable revolution in watchmaking. Lépine's reputation spread with his watches to the four parts of the world. In 1770, he had the honor to present to Louis XV a repeater called astronomical, with the equation and perpetual calendar, which had been done only on clocks for the first part, the second was of his invention. The king named him his clockmaker. Lépine also made very complicated clocks marking the date, the phases of the Moon, provided with sets of flutes, and which went on for a year without being wound up, we see by his account books that he sent some to various courts of Europe. Voltaire, who had attracted in his workshops of Ferney a part of the family of Lépine, maintained for a long time a correspondence with him on the various branches of the clock industry. One finds his letters in some editions of the works of Voltaire. Lépine had still imagined an escapement which he wanted to make carry out by one of his grand-nephews, Jacques Lépine, distinguished workman, but this one was named clockmaker of the king of Westphalia in 1809. On his return to Paris, he learned of his uncle's death on May 31, 1814.
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