Live Auction 1772Partridge
A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED WHITE MARBLE MANTEL CLOCK
Lot 7

A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED WHITE MARBLE MANTEL CLOCK

CIRCA 1780

Price Realised

USD 11,400

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A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED WHITE MARBLE MANTEL CLOCK
CIRCA 1780
The white enamel Roman and Arabic dial with pierced ormolu hands, the movement with twin spring barrels with silk suspended pendulum and countwheel strike on a bell, inset in an obelisk with relief plaque of two draped classical female figures holding aloft the earth on which stands a putto with a burning torch, surmounted by an armillary sphere finial, above a pair of draped lions and a relief plaque of putti playing music, the sides mounted with pierced trophies with Medusa shields and pierced mounts of tied laurel branches, on a base of posts connected by chains and on flattened bun feet, the hands with restorations
27¾ in. (70.5 cm.) high, 13 in. (33 cm.) wide, 9 in. (23 cm.) deep

Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, Monaco, 3 July 1993, lot 64.

Specialist note

This pedestal-supported and veil-draped 'altar' clock is dedicated to Venus and celebrates Love's dominion. Its pillar of a pearl-wreathed and orb-capped obelisk is embellished with a bas-relief of Hymen's torch held by Cupid bearing aloft a globe borne by Venus's attendant Graces. The plinth tablets reveal festive putti preparing for a sacrifice at Love's altar. A clock of related model in bleu turquin marble, in the Louvre in Paris is illutrated in H. Lengellé, dit Tardy, French Clocks The World Over, Paris, 1981, vol. II, fig. 60. An identical obelisk mantel clock is also illustrated in P. Kjellberg, Encyclopédie de la pendule française du Moyen Âge au XXe siècle, Paris, 1997, p. 219.