100th Auction

2019/11/15

Lot 29

Frisard à Rouen, Height 580 mm, circa 1810
A splendor mantle clock of museum-like high quality "Mars and Neptune" with half hour strike and date, together with a pocket sundial bearing the comital coat of arms of the Duke of Rambuteau - formerly part of the collection of Joséphine de Beauharnais on Château de Malmaison, later owned by the Earl of Rambuteau
Case: mahogany and firegilt bronze. Dial: enamel, signed. Movm.: circular brass full plate movement, punch mark "LS", 1 hammer / 1 bell, 2 barrels, spring signed "Monginot April 1809", pin wheel escapement, compensation grid-iron pendulum with knife edge suspension.
The high case with allover glass paneling rests on a wide base and is flanked by two gilt bronze figures representing Mars and Neptune, the Roman gods of war and of the sea. Each of them carries his symbol, the sword and the trident. The exquisitely finished sculptures are signed "Malmaison" and the "N" of Napoleon with a crown; as the Comte de Rambuteau was a member of Empress Josephine’s circle of close friends in the early 19th century, this timepiece may have been a gift from the empress. The other parts of the case are ornamented with delicate gold borders, the front is decorated with two billy goats eating from a basket full of grapes.
Château de Malmaison was formerly the residence of Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais, along with the Tuileries it was the headquarters of the French government from 1800 to 1802.
Joséphine de Beauharnais bought the manor house in April 1799 for herself and her husband, General Napoléon Bonaparte, the future Napoléon I of France, at that time away fighting the Egyptian Campaign. In the autumn of 1802 the Consul and his family moved to Saint-Cloud and Joséphine made frequent trips to the "Imperial Palace of Malmaison" in order to renovate and extend the estate. After the divorce in 1809, the Emperor gave her the property together with its collections, and it was there that she died on 29 May 1814. Her son, Prince Eugène, inherited the property but his widow sold Malmaison to the Swedish banker Jonas Hagerman in 1828. In 1842, Queen Christine of Spain, the widow of King Ferdinand VII, acquired the château to use as her place of residence before selling it back to Napoleon III, Joséphine’s grandson, in 1861.
Source: https://en.musees-nationaux-malmaison.fr/chateau-malmaison/c-life-malmaison, as of 10/08/2019.
Claude-Philibert Barthelot, Comte de Rambuteau was born in Mâcon in 1781. On request of his father-in-law, Louis, Comte de Narbonne-Lara, he became chamberlain of Napoleon in 1809; he also held positions as prefect of the departments Simplon, Loire and Seine. In 1844 he was made an Officier of the Legion of Honour. During his 15 years as Prefect of Paris, he modernized the face of Paris by replacing the old sewers, drying out the swamps, finishing the building of the Arc de Triomphe, organising the construction of fountains and introducing gas lighting. Rambuteau established the foundation for the transformation of Paris, which Baron Haussmanns would eventually complete many years later. He died in 1869 at Château de Rambuteau near Ozolles. The metro station Rambuteau in Paris is named after him.
Charles Henry Frisard was born in Villaret in Switzerland on May 4, 1779. He settled in Rouen in the Rue du Grand Pont before 1809. He was a protestant and Freemason (one of the founders of the Masonic Lodge "La Sincère Amitié" of Rouen), so it is possible that he was related to Benedikt Frisard, who worked in Villaret, and to the Frisard makers who were active in Paris at the time.
Several members of the Moginot family worked as spring makers in the late 18th and early 19th century. One of them is mentioned as a creditor of Robert Robin in November 1799. The mainspring of this timepiece has been signed either by Gaspard Moginot (26, Rue St. Séverin) or by Thomas Moginot (32, Rue de la Huchette); the Annuaire Azur lists the both in 1806.

Sold

estimated
65.000100.000 €
Price realized
62.500 €