The case flanked by ormolu figures of Venus atop a cloud and Adonis with his javelin and hound, the shaped marble base mounted with ormolu plaques cast with putti hunting, playing instruments and carrying game, the dial signed Dubuc L'aine à Paris
17¹⁄₂ in. (44.5 cm.) wide

Dalla Villa di Campagna di Donna Giulia Ferrara Pignatelli; Christie's, Rome, 26 October 2000, lot 67.

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Lot Essay

Jean-Baptiste Dubuc (1743-1817), active from 1786 and maître-horloger to the Comte d’Artois, brother of Louis XVI, is most famous for his ormolu clock cases for the American market in commemoration of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, although recent scholarship has proposed that some of these may have been produced by his older brother, Jacques Nicolas Pierre François Dubuc. Interestingly, Jean-Baptiste Dubuc is recorded as a member of several Masonic lodges in Paris from 1775 and is believed to have been a prominent freemason, like Washington and Franklin. Several instances of the Washington model exist in the market, including an example from the collection of Senator Frank Lautenberg sold at Christie's, New York, 22 September 2014, lot 87 ($137,000); another sold at Christie's, New York, 25 September 2013, lot 118 ($219,750); and another at Christie's, New York, 3 October 2007, lot 120 ($205,000).