Lot 51
51
A FINE EMPIRE ORMOLU AND PATINATED BRONZE ALLEGORICAL MANTEL CLOCK

Details
A FINE EMPIRE ORMOLU AND PATINATED BRONZE ALLEGORICAL MANTEL CLOCK
AFTER A DESIGN BY JEAN SIMON DEVERBERIE, THE DIAL SIGNED BRUN À PARIS

Personifying America as an Indian huntress clad in a feathered girdle and headdress holding a bow and spear, seated adjacent a palm tree with an alligator at her feet, the moulded oblong base applied with ormolu satyr masks and snakes holding swags of fruit above band of beading, raised on toupie feet, the white enamel clock dial with roman chapters gilt hands, the movement with anchor escapement, pendulum with thread suspension, striking the hour and half-hour on bell by means of countwheel, c. 1880--18½ in. (47cm.) high

Lot Essay

The movement was made by Antoine Brun, maître 1787.

The design for this clock, dated '3 pluvoise, an 7 [1799]', is preserved in the Bibliothèque National, Paris.

Deverberie designed several clocks with similar themes. The best known are the present model, L'Afrigue and L'Indien et L'Indienne enlacés. See "La Pendule au Negre à l'heure de Deverberie" by Beatrice Mura, L'Estampille L'Objet d'Art, no. 241, pp. 34-45, November 1990.