An Italian ormolu mounted malachite and marmo rosso antico striking mantel clock

EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Details

An Italian ormolu mounted malachite and marmo rosso antico striking mantel clock
Early 19th century
In the form of a classical temple, with circular white enamel Roman chapter ring enclosing a foliate cast centre and within a glazed and engine-milled bezel above a laurel wreath festooned portrait relief medallion of Homer, the stepped cornice supported by four fluted columns with egg and dart cast capitals, the clock surmounted by the seated figure of a lioness, on a stepped plinth, the twin going-barrel movement with countwheel strike on a bell, lacking a pendulum and key
22in. (56cm) wide; 27½in. (70cm) high; 10½in. (26.5cm) deep

Lot Essay

A related clock presented to Napoleon by Maréchal Bernadotte bears the date 1804 and signature of the Master mosaic-worker Giacomo Raffaelli (d.1836), who in that year was appointed principal of the School of Mosaics in Milan (A. Gonzales-Palacios, Il Tempio del Gusto, Milan 1984, Tom.II, p.135, fig.296). Napoleon presented another of Raffaelli's clocks to Pope Pius II and this is now in the Château de Fontainbleau.

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