THE FIGURES AFTER MODELS BY LOUIS-SIMON BOIZOT, THE BRONZES BY FRANCOIS REMOND, PROBABLY SUPPLIED BY DOMINIQUE DAGUERRE, THE MOVEMENT BY MICHEL-FRANCOIS PIOLAINE, CIRCA 1785

The design for this clock derives from a drawing in a catalogue produced by François Rémond (maître doreur in 1744), circa 1785, which incorporates figures designed and supplied to the Sèvres factory for reproduction in biscuit porcelain by the sculptor Simon-Louis Boizot (H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel et. al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 295, fig. 4.17.5.). Rémond was one of the most celebrated ciseleurs-doreurs during the reign of Louis XVI and counted amongst his distinguished clientele the comte d'Artois and the Princesse Kinsky. Between February 1784 and October 1787, Rémond sold at least thirty-two versions of this model to the marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre. In 1788, Daguerre delivered three of these clocks, with movements by Sotiau, to Louis XVI for the château de Saint-Cloud (P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dorés Français du XVIIIème siècle, Paris, 1987, p. 322).
Three nearly identical clocks are in the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace. (C. Jagger, Royal Clocks - The British Monarchy and its Timekeepers 1300 - 1900, London, 1983, pp. 154-155).