Rare Louis XIV-style cartel barometer decorated with Boulle - Lot 49

Rare Louis XIV-style cartel barometer decorated with Boulle marquetry and chased and gilded bronzes. The dial, adorned with a mask of Diana crowned with a palmette, features three white enamel plates indicating "Le beau Temps, Changeant et Pluvieux". It is topped by an obelisk decorated with a profile of Louis XIV and a latticework of brass fleurons set against a blue horn background. The whole rests on a base inlaid with brass scrolls and acanthus friezes on a brown tortoiseshell background. Paris, 19th century. Height : 102 cm. Minor restorations. Lifts and detachments to decorations. Our barometer features an ornamental composition and decoration similar to the barometer-thermometer and cartel clock by André Charles BOULLE illustrated in the Exhibition catalog "ANDRE CHARLES BOULLE. 1642-1732. A new style for Europe. Somogy, Editions d'Art. 2009, pages 228 and 229. This model also reflects the influence of Gilles-Marie OPPENORD, with its pyramid-shaped top featuring a medallion with the profile of Louis XIV. Animal clocks were very popular under Louis XV. The bull enjoyed great honor when it could be assimilated to ancient legend. On many clocks, it is accompanied by graceful female figures, with whom it symbolizes the Abduction of Europa. This young woman, daughter of the King of Phoenicia, had seduced Zeus, the King of Olympus, who, in order to seize her, simply transformed himself into a bull. Pierre Kjellberg, L'Encyclopédie de la Pendule française du Moyen-Age au XXe siècle, Editions de l'Amateur, 1997, p. 125-134. There are three illustrations of similar models. One on page 134 of the opus cited (figure c), the other two on p.172 (figure 1) and p. 173 of Tardy, La Pendule française, Première Partie, des origines à Louis XV, 1949.