Coutau-Bégarie & Associés, Tableaux, mobilier et objets d'art, Lot 322 (estimated 1,200 - 1,800 €), Paris, November 29, 2013.
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Large architectural clock in polychrome enamelled faience with a Neo-Renaissance decoration on a blue background. Resting on three feet, the base is adorned with friezes of stylized motifs. The decoration, composed of masks, ovolos, and foliage scrolls, features two confronted naked female figures in the antique style, surmounted by a putto presenting an armorial shield with the intertwined letters "T" and "N".
Exhibition reports, contemporary press, and archives attest that Auguste Jean produced several clocks during his career, with a mechanism/movement made by the Maison Le Roy & Fils in Paris (Galerie Montpensier at the Palais-Royal). However, only three examples are identified today, making this work a particularly rare testament to this type of production by this artist.
Signed and dated — an uncommon association —, this clock brings together the most emblematic characteristics of Auguste Jean's work: the deep blue background for which he is renowned, the pictorial quality of the polychrome enamels, the perfect mastery of decorative composition, and the care taken with the smallest details.
