Large and exceptional cartel and its console in Boulle marquetry
Paris, Circa 1725
The door opens to reveal a chased bronze dial with 24 enamelled cartouches in two rows, showing the hours in Roman numerals and the minutes in Arabic numerals, with two steel hands.
The movement is signed ‘Audinet à Paris’ for the watchmaker François Audinet, master in Paris in 1722 and established in rue des Petits-Champs in 1748.
Rich Boulle marquetry of engraved copper on a brown tinted tortoiseshell base, decorated with floral scrolls. The mantel is adorned with a love sitting on a cloud, and features a rich ornamentation of finely chased and gilded bronze placed in repetition on each corner: such as dog heads, a profile in a central medallion, ram heads, and friezes of foliage and scrolls. The front door is adorned with a female figure. It stands on four scrolled feet adorned with children. The console is adorned with Bacchus heads.
The ram's head decoration on this Regency cartel is reminiscent of the work of André Charles Boulle, while the espagnolettes on the base are more reminiscent of Charles Cressent.
H 152,5 cm L 63 cm P 29 cm
