Koetshorloge

Een koets- of rijtuighorloge met slagwerk, gesigneerd; ETIENNE LE NOIR, Paris, no 2260, circa 1760
Het uurwerk verguld koper, gaand werk met spillegang, ketting en snek, slagwerk op het hele- en het halve uur, slaand op de bel, geplaatst in de kastbodem.
De verguld-zilveren kast geheel bekleed met zilver filigrein. De wijzerplaat wit geëmailleerd, verguld koperen wijzers.
Diameter: 115mm

LE NOIR, Etienne II (b. Paris, 6 Novembre  1699; d. Paris, 20 August 1778). Protestant. Signed “Etienne Le Noir le fils”, then after 1740 “Etienne Le Noir”. Son of Etienne I, and Marie-Anne Gamonet. Married to Marguerite Huré (1723) . Father of Pierre-Etienne. Received as master on 26 November 1717 (F.M.). Associated (1750) with his son Pierre-Etienne. He retired in 1771. Established at the Quai des Orfèvres at the Répetition d’Angleterre. When he died in 1778, he left a fortune of 320,904 livres.
LE NOIR, Pierre-Etienne (b. Paris abt 1724; d. Paris aft. 1789). Son of Etienne II and Marguerite Huré. Married to Jeanne-Henriette Brevet (1750). Father of Etienne-Alexandre. Received as masteron 22 February 1743 (F.M.). Worked for his father, before becoming his partner from 1750 to 1771. Subsequently, he ran the family workshop alone, leaving it to his son, Etienne-Alexandre, who continued the business during the Consulate and the Empire. Established Quai des Orfèvres.
Activity of Etienne II and Pierre-Etienne Le Noir’s workshop.
This establishment reached its apogee under the direction of Etienne II and his son. They sold a great many clocks and watches in all kinds of materials, throughout the whole of Europe.
In 1759 the stock was valued at more than 28,000 livres. Their most lucrative activity at that time was watch production; sixty are recorded of which forty-five had gold cases and fifteen zilver, as well as twenty-two different clocks, fourteen in bronze and eight in veneer or marquetry.
They worked closely with many merchants: N. Gérard, T.J. Hébert, C.F. Julliot, F. Darnault, J.B. Tesnier, J.J. Allain, L. Duveaux, A. and L.F. Herbaut, H. Le Brun, the La Fresnayes father and son, J.J.F. Machart, and the Noyaux brothers in Amsterdam.
Clock cases were made for them by the cabinet-makers C. Cressent, Bernard I and Bernard II van Risamburgh, J. Dubois, J.P. Latz, J.Goyer, B. Lieutaud, A. Dubois, A. Foullet, J. De Saint-Germain, and the chasers  N. Bonnet, J.J. de Saint-Germain, J.B. and R. Osmond, M. Poisson, and the Caffieris. Springs were supplied by the Richards, C. Buzot and P. Masson, enamelled dials by A.N. Martinière and J. Decla. The painter Hubert limned scenes on the enamelled watch cases, some of which were supplied by M. Du  Cloux, X. Gide, F. Gervais and P. Alberton. Watch chains came from the goldsmith J.M.A. Ecosse.
The list of those owning clocks and watches signed Etienne Le Noirà Paris are witness of the prestige attained by this workshop. In France the nobility, financiers, magistrates and the Church were all clients.
Work signed by Le Noirs was purchased by the courts of Spain, Naples, Sweden, Saxony, Bavaria, Hesse-Cassel as well as many other German Principalities.
Museums: Aylesbury, Waddesdon Manor; Brussels, mussée royaux d’Art et d’Histoire; Calden, Schloss Wilhelmsthal; Cleveland, Museum of Art; Dresden, Museum für  Kunsthandwerk; Spain, Patrimonmio National; Lyon, musée des Arts Décoratifs; Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum; Munich, Residenzmuseum; Paris, musée du Louvre, musée Nissim de Camondo, palais du Luxembourg; Saint Petersburg, Hermitage; Versailles, château.

Literatuur: Jean Dominique Augarde, LES OUVRIERS DU TEMPS, page 347