Fine Empire Gilt and Patinated Bronze "Au Bon Sauvage" Mantel Clock , c. 1800, attr. to Jean-Simon Deverberie (1764-1824), figure personifying Africa, glass eyes, draped with pearls and quiver, holding a bow, resting her foot on a tortoise, and holding a lion on leash, silk-thread movement , curved case with applied mounts of hunting putti, toupie feet, h. 18 in., w. 14 3/4 in. Provenance: Sotheby's, Amsterdam, European Collections: Paintings, Ceramics, Glass, Furniture and other Works of Art, Sept.17-18, 2007, lot 833.Note: Some of the earliest images of the noble savage came out of the New World in the 16th century. These paintings, by John White and Jacques Le Moyne, depicted the native people of Florida and the territory around the Virginia colony. The illustrations brought back from the 18th c. explorers Bougainville and Cook furthered this interest in native peoples. In fact, Cook’s ship, from the second voyage of discovery in 1769, brought back a native Tahitian named Omai. He charmed London society, was received by George III and was painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds.In literature, works like Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe and Saint Pierre’s Paul et Virginie inspired the philosophy of the “savage” being essentially good, and not corrupted by modern civilization.The late 18th/early 19th c. clockmakers in France seized on this idea and made it one of their favorite figural themes. Proud figures like the one depicted in this lot helped give rise to the opposition, and eventual abolition of slavery in France. Ref.: Kjellberg, Pierre. Encyclopedie de La Pendule Francaise..., Paris, Les Editions de l'Amateur, 1997, pg. 351.