Pendulum Representing Prudence

Clock representing Prudence in gilded and chiseled bronze resting on a blackened wooden base. The clock rests on four small feet in gilded bronze.
Movement of "Causard horloger du roi - Suivant à la cour"
Based on a drawing by Antoine Foullet
Louis XVI period
Usual restorations
H. 32 x W. 29 x D. 13 cm

The clock in our study is a model that was designed by the carpenter Antoine Foullet (master in 1749, died in 1775). Why a carpenter? We can indeed wonder since it is a work in bronze and what is more, is a clock. Antoine Foullet worked particularly for clockmakers (making cases) and was probably a merchant on the Parisian market. A drawing of the latter is preserved in the "Collection of drawings - Models of clocks, years 1755-1780" identified under the number 34 and preserved in the library of the INHA (Jacques Doucet collection).
The model represents Prudence recognized thanks to her attributes: the mirror (as a symbol of the prediction of the future and self-knowledge) and the snake. This clock is also sometimes identified as Cleopatra.

Several clocks with the same composition or very similar are known to us. We can cite a clock reproduced in the book by Pierre Kjellberg "Encyclopédie de la pendule française" (Editions de l'Amateur), another preserved by the Louvre Museum but exhibited at the Hôtel de la Marine, or another preserved at the Pavlosk Palace in Saint-Petersburg.
The archives also mention clocks that seem almost identical to ours. Indeed, on the occasion of the sale of March 1, 1784 of the Comte de Merle, the catalog listing the lots names a clock of the Prudence where Baillon, valet-clockmaker ordinary of the dauphine Marie-Antoinette, left his signature on the dial.

The clockmaker of our clock is called Edmée-Jean Causard (1720-1780). He is first a free worker, then becomes "Privileged clock merchant of the king" in 1753. He specializes in clocks.
Whether by taking an interest in the different artists who intervened or by savoring the other clocks of this model in the collections of the institutions, the clock of our study is particularly captivating.

Ref: 6FGQ6G7NS0