A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU BRONZE AND WHITE MARBLE MANTEL CLOCK

Details

A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU BRONZE AND WHITE MARBLE MANTEL CLOCK
The turning enamel dial with Roman and Arabic chapters within an urn-shaped body flanked by the scantily draped personification of Astrology to one side and by a putto pointing the time to the other, beside him a globe and a scroll, to the back with a further seated youth reading a scroll beside a plinth, the ground with flowers, on a circular stepped base with a laurel bands and a bardiglio plinth, lacking winder, restorations to dials, putto lacking an implement to the left hand, and the maiden to probably to both her hands, the movement and possibly the base replaced in the 19th Century
20¼ in. (52 cm.) high

Lot Essay

Astrology is represented on this mantel clock by the figure of Urania, wreathed in stars leaning against an urn on which is a cockerel crowing, representing vigilance. Below, a pair of attendant putti play with astronomical instruments.

The design for this figure-group can probably be attributed to Simon-Louis Boizot (1743-1809), who studied with Jean-Franois Houdon in Rome and became Director of the Sèvres factory in 1774. A very similar clock with a porcelain bleu de Sèvres body is illustrated in J.D. Augarde, Les Ouvriers du Temps, London, 1997, p. 192.

More from Important European Furniture

View All