AN ORMOLU AND RED GRIOTTE MARBLE MANTEL CLOCK

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AN ORMOLU AND RED GRIOTTE MARBLE MANTEL CLOCK
The circular engraved dial with Roman chapters bearing false inscription 'THOMIRE A PARIS' within a stiff-leaf and guilloche border, set in a rectangular plinth with double-wreath spandrels and swan-decorated lyre below, surmounted by a bust of Homer, the lower edge with a lotus band and anthemion angles, flanked to the right by a maiden holding a tablet, on a rectangular base with central flowerhead and scrolling foliage issuing from lotus-buds and with a fruiting floral moulding centred by a flowerhead, on winged chimerae feet, the marble with restored break and restoration to one corner, with pendulum, regilt, the reverse by repute inscribed 'THOMIRE, ET MOINET, HORLOGER', part-19th Century
27 in. (68¾ cm.) high

Lot Essay

A closely related clock, with identical winged 'Fauna' figure, was supplied by Pierre-Philippe Thomire in 1812 to the Plazzo Pitti in Florence. On the return of the Hapsburgs in 1812 the bust of Napoleon, which originally surmounted the clock, was replaced by a bust of Ferdinand III (H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel, et.al, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p. 346, fig. 5.5.14). A drawing in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Cabinet d'Estampes, depicts a similar bust of Homer (ibid., p. 373, fig. 5.14.7).

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