P. PLANTARD, Abbeville

Lot 4
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Estimation :
20000 - 30000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 197 552EUR
P. PLANTARD, Abbeville
Table clock in the shape of a tower In gilded copper, hexagonal shape topped by a pierced dome (for the bell) with cut leather and grotesque masks engraved. On the main face, circular dial with a needle on a twelve-pointed star background, Roman numerals. Under the dial, engraved decoration of Diana the Huntress lying naked in front of a stag, surmounted by the coat of arms of Guillaume Bailly, Count of La Ferté Aleps (1519 - 1582) [Or, a fess of azure charged with a cross patté Or between two acorns of vert in chief and an oak tree rounded of the same in base]. On each side, engraved decoration of Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn small openings simulating a window on two sides. The bottom is marked by the punch "Abe P Plantard" struck in a cartouche. The inside of the back is engraved with the coat of arms of the sponsor and his wife: Guillaume Bailly (1519 - 1582) and Madeleine Harel (1524 - 1579). Mechanical movement with key winding, escapement with meeting wheel, cogs, spindle and hose for the hours and the striking mechanism, window opening to access the various mechanisms, striking on bell. Height 18 cm Width 9,1 cm D. 8 cm PROVENANCE According to a family tradition, this tower clock was bought from Kugel in 1973. Guillaume Bailly, who commissioned this clock, was born on March 23, 1519 in Paris to a father who was an examiner at the Châtelet of Paris. He died on May 28, 1582 in the abbey of Bourgueil. He was admitted as a lawyer at the Parliament of Paris in 1538. He bought a position as a King's counselor and became State Counselor and Honorary Counselor at the Grand Council, then Counselor-Master of Accounts on August 6, 1547. He became president of the Chambre des Comptes [provided by letters of February 2, 1549]. A high official of the Kingdom of France, he was also Master of the Requests. In 1555, he was sent to Piedmont by Marshal de Brissac, the same Marshal by whom he was knighted and confirmed in his knighthood by letters-patent of King Charles IX on August 26, 1571. Decorated with the Order of Saint-Michel, Bailly was lord of La Motte and count of La Ferté-Aleps. He became the 44th abbot of the abbey of Bourgueil in May 1582. He died as a result of poisoning while dining with the Count of Montsoreau at the castle of La Coutancière, in Brain-sur-Allonnes. Guillaume Bailly was abbot for twenty-two days. He died of the consequences of this poisoning in the abbey house and was buried in the choir of the church of the abbey of Bourgueil. Our clock presents the rare singularity of being the work of a clockmaker whose first name has not been found (P ?), probably belonging to the famous Plantard family in Abbeville, whose most emblematic representative is Nicolas Plantard, supplier of the Queen Mary Stuart. As a comparison for a table clock signed "Plantard", an example bearing the signature "N. Plantard Abbeville" described as later, circa 1600, was included in The Percy Webster Collection, Sotheby's, London, 27 May 1954. No other clock signed "P. Plantard" has been found to date. This clock is a discovery in the history of clockmaking, and prefigures the miniaturization of the first portable watches, and is therefore situated at a turning point in the history of time.
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