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Mantel Clock - Image 2
Mantel Clock - Image 3
Public Domain

Jacques Nicolas Pierre François Dubuc

Mantel Clock

c. 1815

Mantel Clock — thumbnail 1
Mantel Clock — thumbnail 2
Mantel Clock — thumbnail 3
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Jacques Nicolas Pierre François Dubuc

Mantel Clock

c. 1815

Physical Qualities Mercury gilded brass, iron, enameled metal , 19 x 14 1/2 x 5 3/4 in. (48.3 x 36.8 x 14.6 cm.)
Credit Line Friends of the American Wing Fund
Object Number 1994.163
After George Washington’s death in 1799, entrepreneurial Europeans created household objects bearing the President’s likeness for the American market. In 1815, a Baltimorean received correspondence from the French maker of this clock, describing a plan to produce such timepieces in two sizes embellished with a “statue of the great Washington.” The well known tribute “First in War, First in Peace, First in the Hearts of his Countrymen” on the banner below the clock face quotes Major General Henry Lee’s eulogy of Washington, published as a pamphlet in the early 1800s. The clock face is inscribed “Rue Michelle le Comte, No. 33”, distinguishing Jacques Dubuc, who worked at that Paris address, from his younger brother, Jean Baptiste, another clockmaker associated with such timepieces. Can you see any differences between the large and small versions?
William Fehsenfeld, Sylvan Cohen, DDS

Inscribed: On dial, 'Dubuc/Rue Michel-le-Comte No.33/A PARIS'; on plinth below eagle, 'E PLURIBUS UNUM'; on drapery below clock face, 'WASHINGTON./First in WAR, First in PEACE,/First in the HEARTS of his COUNTRYMEN'.

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