Lot 208

Lépine, Horloger de l'Impératice, Paris, Height 610 mm, circa 1809
An Empire precision table regulator of museum quality with 30 days power reserve, annual calendar, equation, half hour / hour self strike, centre seconds and Graham escapement, created by an outstanding French maker, with dial by Dubuisson, one of the most renowned French enamel painters
Case: mahogany, upright rectangular case; moulded base and cornice, glass panels on four sides. Screwed brass plaque with dedication engraving attached to the base. Glazed bezel surround with gilt palmette moulding. Top with vision panel and pulleys for two lateral square brass weights and heavy pendulum mounting. Dial: enamel, signed: "Lépine, Hr. de l'Impératice" und "Dubuisson", outer names of the months with their zodiac signs and numbers of days in each, inner radial Roman hours. Five separate hands: gilt Breguet hands for the hours and the equation, blued hands for the minutes, the annual calendar and centre seconds. Movm.: solid circular brass full plate movement of high quality, 1 barrel and cord for two weights, 1 hammer / 1 bell, solid movement pillars, count wheel, Graham escapement with jeweled pallets, steel/brass compensation gridiron pendulum with 9 rods, knife edge suspension and heavy pendulum bob with adjusting nut and temperature indicator.
Provenance: Julia Poiret, nee Bellanger, given to her by the widow Condu on 9th August 1893.
The remarkable career of Pierre-Claude Raguet, known as Lepine (1753-1810) coincided with the decline of Louis XVI, the Revolution and Napoleon's subsequent rise to power. Born in Dole, the son of a cloth merchant named Antoine Raguet, in 1782 Pierre-Claude married his first wife, Pauline, only daughter of the renowned horologist, Jean-Antoine I Lepine (1720-1814). Prior to his marriage Pierre-Claude had invested 16,000 livres in Lepine's business and then purchased a third share in 1783. Working actively with his father-in-law, in June 1784 he effectively took over the business under the name of "Lepine a Paris, Horloger du Roi". Later - in 1793 he was appointed a member of the jury responsible for determining a new Revolutionary time system. His next major appointment came in 1805 as "Horloger brevete de Sa Majeste l'Imperatrice-Reine", which was followed in 1809 to "l'Imperatrice-Josephine". Amongst his illustrious clientele were Napoleon Bonaparte, the Empress Joséphine, Jérome King of Westfalen, Karl IV King of Spain and the ambassadors of Russia and Austria. Lepine died the following year on 30th May at Villeneuve-le-Roy and just over a month later his son, Alexandre-Pierre-Francois sold the business to Jean-Paul Chapuy. Trading under its original name, the firm continued to prosper until 1916.
Source: http://www.richardreddingantiques.com, as of 03/29/2015.
Etienne Gobin, known as Dubuisson (died circa 1822) was a famous watch and clock enameller. As a flower painter he worked at Chantilly and the Royal Manufacture de Sèvres. Along with Coteau, Dubuisson soon had a reputation as an exceptional enamel and porcelain painter who most likely created the most important and intricate dials of the later 18th century.