PENDULE AU LION RUGISSANT. ROARING LION GILT BRONZE ROCOCO CLOCK BY N.CH. DU TERTRE. FRANCE, LATE 18TH CENTURY.
FRANCE, LATE 18TH CENTURY.
Origin: France, Paris, Louis XV period, around 1760-1770.
Dimensions: H46 x 33x15 cm.
Very rare rococo mantel clock with roaring lion (French: pendule au lion rugissant). Made of finelly casted and chiseled fire-gilt bronze. The lion bearing clock-case on his back, on opulently decorated cartouche base.
Good quality dial with blue Roman hour and black Arabic minute numerals. Signed N[icol]AS CHARLES DU TERTRE. Movement strikes full and half hours on the bell. Gilt bronze, precisely cut and engraved hands.
Condition: case in very good condition with minor rubbing to the gold layer. Movement works and strikes. Minimal damages to the dial, not visible after closing the frame with glass.
Nicolas Charles Dutertre was born around 1715 in Paris. Son of Jean Baptiste Dutertre and Catherine Le Noir, both parents from clockmasters families. He granted watchmaker master title on July 7th, 1739, the same day as his brother - Jean Abraham Dutertre. He was named "Garde Visiteur de la Communauté des Maîtres-Horlogers Parisiens" in 1775. In other source: Garde juré 1772 and Juré 1775.
He is noted as having the workshop at the Rue Dauphine in 1730, at the Rue de Bussy in 1741, at Quai Conti in 1748 and Quai de l'Ecole in Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois from 1749. Nicolas Charles married Jeanne-Victoire Poitevin around 1740, their son, Charles Dutertre was famous clockmaster, too. Nicolas Charles Dutertre died on June 25, 1793.
Provenance: sold in Eppli auction house in 2010, later in private collection in Germany.