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Lot Essay
The clockmaker Dieudonné Kinable (d. circa 1815) was established at Palais Royal no. 131 and was active at the end of the eighteenth century. Specializing in clocks incorporating polychrome enamel or porcelain, particularly lyre-form clocks, Kinable was the largest buyer of porcelain lyre-form clock cases from the Sèvres factory, buying thirteen between 1795 and 1807. He often collaborated with the enamellers Coteau and Dubuisson.
Etienne Gobin, known as Dubuisson (d. circa 1822), watch and clock enameller, worked at Chantilly and Sèvres as a flower painter. He is later recorded in the Rue de la Huchette in the 1790s before moving to Rue de la Calandre around 1812.
Porcelain lyre-form clocks were first produced at the Sèvres Manufactory in 1785. Made in bleu céleste, green, pink and gros bleu or beau bleu, the latter was the most popular ground color. An example in beau bleu, delivered on approval to George IV at Carlton House on 12 October 1828 by the Paris dealer Lafontaine and subsequently purchased by the King, was exhibited at the Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London, 'Sèvres Porcelain from the Royal Collection', 1979-1980, Exhibition Catalogue, pp. 79-80, no. 73. Another, now in the Louvre (inv. O.A.R.483 - P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dorés Français du XVIIIe siècle, 1987, p. 41, ill. 32), the dial of which is signed Coteau 1787, was originally at Versailles, where it is recorded in the Salon des Jeux: 'Une pendule de cheminée en porcelaine de Sèvres fond bleu cadran 4 aiguilles, orni de rangs de perles et guirlandes de fleurs, le haut terminé par un soleil sous verre de 22 pouces de haut'. It was valued at 1600 livres.
Examples of lyre clocks in gros bleu Sèvres porcelain with Zodiac dials signed by Kinable include that from the Hodgkins Collection, now in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore (no.58 2 32); another sold from the Good Collection, Christie's London, 17 July 1895, lot 270; another from Lord Tweedmouth's (d.1894) Collection at Brook House, sold at Christie's London, 25 May 1932, lot 715; and another in bleu lapis porcelain sold from the Champalimaud Collection, Christie's London, 6 July 2005, lot 113.
A drawing in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (gift of Raphael Esmerian, 1960), features a closely related lyre clock (illustrated here). Although not part of the celebrated of drawings made for Albert, Duke of Sachsen-Teschen (thought to be a sample catalogue from his marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre), it is possible that this highly finished drawing could also have been a presentation drawing for a client.
Etienne Gobin, known as Dubuisson (d. circa 1822), watch and clock enameller, worked at Chantilly and Sèvres as a flower painter. He is later recorded in the Rue de la Huchette in the 1790s before moving to Rue de la Calandre around 1812.
Porcelain lyre-form clocks were first produced at the Sèvres Manufactory in 1785. Made in bleu céleste, green, pink and gros bleu or beau bleu, the latter was the most popular ground color. An example in beau bleu, delivered on approval to George IV at Carlton House on 12 October 1828 by the Paris dealer Lafontaine and subsequently purchased by the King, was exhibited at the Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London, 'Sèvres Porcelain from the Royal Collection', 1979-1980, Exhibition Catalogue, pp. 79-80, no. 73. Another, now in the Louvre (inv. O.A.R.483 - P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dorés Français du XVIIIe siècle, 1987, p. 41, ill. 32), the dial of which is signed Coteau 1787, was originally at Versailles, where it is recorded in the Salon des Jeux: 'Une pendule de cheminée en porcelaine de Sèvres fond bleu cadran 4 aiguilles, orni de rangs de perles et guirlandes de fleurs, le haut terminé par un soleil sous verre de 22 pouces de haut'. It was valued at 1600 livres.
Examples of lyre clocks in gros bleu Sèvres porcelain with Zodiac dials signed by Kinable include that from the Hodgkins Collection, now in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore (no.58 2 32); another sold from the Good Collection, Christie's London, 17 July 1895, lot 270; another from Lord Tweedmouth's (d.1894) Collection at Brook House, sold at Christie's London, 25 May 1932, lot 715; and another in bleu lapis porcelain sold from the Champalimaud Collection, Christie's London, 6 July 2005, lot 113.
A drawing in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (gift of Raphael Esmerian, 1960), features a closely related lyre clock (illustrated here). Although not part of the celebrated of drawings made for Albert, Duke of Sachsen-Teschen (thought to be a sample catalogue from his marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre), it is possible that this highly finished drawing could also have been a presentation drawing for a client.