A clock of this model was sold in 1791 by the marchande-mercier Dominique Daguerre to Lord Palmerston and is now preserved at Broadlands Castle, Hampshire. Other examples include one signed Guydamour à Paris and illustrated in E. Winthrop, French Clocks in North American Collections, New York, 1982, pp. 100-101; another signed Guydamour sold Christie's, Monaco, 21 June 1998, lot 547; one signed Drout à Paris illustrated in P. Kjellberg, L'Encyclopédie de la Pendule Française du Moyen Age à nos Jours, Paris, 1997, p. 240, fig. B; and one executed in ormolu and white marble signed De Belle with a dial by Dubuisson sold Christie's, New York, 1 November 1990, lot 78. A clock of this model in gilt and patinated bronze and white marble was formerly in the Russian Imperial collection and subsequently sold Lepke, Berlin, 6 November 1928, lot 169, see H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol.1, p. 280, fig. 4.13.2.
A pair of chenets featuring identical goat figures attributed to Pierre-Philippe Thomire was recorded in the dining room of Marie-Antoinette's house at the Hameau in 1788. These andirons were eventually sold as part of the contents of the château de Versailles in 1793 to the marchand Rocheux, who is believed to have sold them in the mid-1790s to James Swan, Boston, where they remain today in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts (acc. no. 27.521.1-2).

Born in Paris on 26 August 1874, Mary Ethel Harcourt was the daughter of American banker Walter Hayes Burns and his Mary Lyman Morgan, niece of J. Pierpont Morgan. The Burns had lived in London but also owned a country estate in Hertfordshire. In 1899 Mary Ethel married Viscount Lewis Vernon Harcourt, with whom she had four children. Her generous dowry fortified the Harcourt coffers a great deal and with the help of the Burns’ money, the Harcourt family collection was enriched by numerous pieces of extravagant jewelry. In 1922 Lord Harcourt died of a heart attached in the family’s London townhouse. His death was quickly rumored to be suicide following accusations of sexual impropriety by Edward James, the later famed patron and champion of surrealism. Throughout her life, Lady Harcourt was involved in numerous charities such as the American Red Cross and the Overseas Settlement of British women. She was appointed a Lady of Grace of the Order of St John, Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) and was awarded the Belgian Médaille de la Reine-Elisabeth. She passed away on 7 January 1961 in London, leaving her collection of jewelry and works of art to her children.