Cartelclock

A very fine Louis XVI period ormolu striking cartel clock ”aux guirlandes”, the movement signed on the white enamel by Gille L’Aine, Paris. Pierre II. Gille l’ainé (1723-1784) was the son of the Parisian clockmaker Pierre I Francois Gille l’ainé and founded an independent workshop in the Rue Saint-Martin. Until the death of his father in 1765 he signed his works with ‘Gille L’Aine Fils’; thereafter he signed like his father with ‘Gille l’Aine a Paris’. His clients included the Marquis de Brunov, Prince Charles de Lorraine and the Duc de Gramont.

The neoclassical baluster shaped case surmounted by an urn with ram’s mask handles, laurel swags to the sides and inset with trellis-work frets, the base cast with a vitruvian scroll and with a leaf clasp finial. Fine authentic condition retaining the original gilding. Movement has been cleaned and revised and is in working condition.