65. Clock with the elephant in bronze with brown patina and chased and gilded bronze, the movement included in a signed GALLOIS in Paris. White enamelled dial with Roman and Arabic numerals also signed GALLOIS in Paris. Movement with wire. Base with openwork decoration of a rocky mound. It is topped by a cherub holding a tablet. Signed on the base St GERMAIN. Louis XV period. H : 49 cm - W : 36 cm - D : 15 cm. (A damaged needle, small chips in the enamel of the dial). Received master founder in earth and sand on July 15 July 15, 1748, Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain (1719- 1791) enjoyed the privilege of the free worker, which allowed him to be both a bronze worker as well as a cabinetmaker. Active from 1742 to 1776, he began to to market this model shortly before 1747. He supplied cases of clocks to the best clockmakers of his time the best clockmakers of his time: Etienne Lenoir, Julien Le Roy and Jean-Philippe Gosselin. Saint-Germain was also famous in his time for his cabinet of curiosities and his passion for and his passion for botany, themes that can be found in his production. Bronziers such as Caffieri or Saint-Germain created numerous andirons or clocks on the theme of theme of exoticism interpreted by animals such as the elephant, the rhinoceros or the parakeet. The clock with the elephant of Saint-Germain is part of the most symbolic pieces of this taste. It presented itself thus in its announcement Saint-Germain, master founder, chiseller and modeller makes and sells all kinds of boxes for gilding in ground gold or in gold color, like bronze, elephant boete, lion, bull and others, makes designs, and wax models, all at a fair price. at fair price". Among the identical models signed Saint- Germain, let us quote in particular: - A clock with the dial signed Moisy in Paris illustrated in Vergoldete Bronzen, H. Ottomeyer und P. Pröschel, vol. I, Munich, 1986, p. 123, fig. 2.8.3. - A clock with a music box, which belonged to the belonging to the Bodenstein collection, Berlin, 6-7 April 1909, lot no. 79. - A clock with the dial signed Julien Le Roy, Christie's London sale, April 16, 2014, lot 6. - A clock with the dial signed Julien Le Roy, Sotheby's Paris, November 5, 2014, lot 195. Among those of the same model in public collections public collections, let us quote : - A clock with the dial signed Viger in Paris, offered by the Princes of Ligne to the Treasury of the cathedral of Tournai. - A clock acquired by the Gardemeuble in 1865 for the Castle of Fontainebleau. Finally, a clock, most certainly of the same model, was identical model, was valued at 108 livres in the inventory after the death of the Duchess of Brancas in 1784: " A clock in cartel of the name of Jean-Baptiste Baillon mounted on an elephant surmounted by a small love". François Gallois was received as a master clockmaker in 1746; he practiced on rue Sainte-Croix from 1754 until his until his death in 1775. Bibliography : - H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, vol. I, Munich, 1986, p. 123, fig. 2.8.3. - Tardy, La pendule française, Ier Partie : De l'Horloge gothique à la Pendule Louis XV, 1967, p.173. - Tardy, Dictionary of French Clockmakers, Paris, 1971. - P. Verlet, Les bronzes dorés français du XVIIIe century, Editions Picard, Paris, 1999, p.192, fig. 219.