Pendule (Bracket Clock)

Paris, France; ca. 1730-1750; painted and gilded wooden case, brass works; 68 x 45.7 x 19.5 cm. CMC 980.44.1 a-f

Dating from between 1730 and 1750, this pendule, or bracket clock, includes a mechanism by Charles Le Roy of Paris. The Le Roys were one of the most famous clock-maker families in Paris. The clock case is fashioned in the rococo style. Spirited, frivolous, and delicate, the rococo is characteristic of eighteenth-century France and of the court of Louis XV. Louis himself is said to have sent this clock to New France as a gift to Charles Le Moyne, second Baron de Longueuil, a prominent member of the colony's military elite. There were several occasions in Le Moyne's career when such recognition would have been appropriate: for example, in 1734, when he was made a knight of the order of Saint-Louis, or in 1749, when he was appointed governor of Montreal.