PENDULE "L'AFRIQUE" Directoire, Paris around 1800, the design for the model by the bronzier Jean-Simon Deverberie (1764-1824). Dark patinated and partially gilt bronze. Figure of a huntress with bow and arrow, sitting on the cylindrical clock case, with a tortoise at her feet and a seated panther behind her. Glass eyes. On an arch-shaped base, with decoration in the form of palmettes, exotic birds and a leaf frieze. On paw feet and a rectangular marble base. White enamel dial with Roman hours. Parisian movement with half-hour strike on bell. 42 × 10.5 × 58 cm. Gilding rubbed. Minor defects. Work to be examined. This pendulum entitled "L'Afrique" was designed by the Parisian bronzier Jean-Simon Deverberie, who created another version of the piece entitled "L'Amérique", in which the hunting woman is accompanied by a crocodile. Various versions of this model exist, differing in the design of the plinth. The design drawings for Deverberie's model are kept in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. The depiction of dark-skinned figures was not used in European watchmaking until the end of the Ancien Régime, towards the end of the 18th century. The increased interest in the subject can be traced back to literary publications such as the story of Atala and Chactas by François René Vicomte de Chateaubriand and Paul et Virginie by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. The motifs, referred to in French as "bons sauvages", reflect an idealised and romanticised view of the exotic "noble savages" and the ideal image of the "homme naturel", a natural and unspoilt man of nature. Cf. Pierre Kjellberg. Encyclopédie de la Pendule Française du Moyen Age au XXe siècle. Paris 1997. p. 350 with the depiction of a pendulum that is very similar except for the design of the feet and on the following pages further versions of the model as well as a pendulum "L'Amérique" with a comparable base design. These objects marked with * (asterisk) are fully subject to VAT, i.e. VAT will be charged on the hammer price plus buyer's premium. Buyers who present a legally stamped export declaration will be reimbursed the VAT.