This mantel clock is designed in the late eighteenth century arabesque or Pompeian manner, and is enriched with Wedgwood jasper medallion bas-reliefs in the fashion popularised by the marchand mercier, Dominique Daguerre (d.1796). The clock-face, accompanied by a Zodiac medallion, is supported amongst acanthus-scrolls by addorsed and pedestal-supported sphinxes with Turkish aigrette plumes; while flowers deck the altar-stepped plinth, which displays an emblematical Cupid medallion known as 'Sportive Love'. The latter, like the accompanying pedestal-medallion featuring children and entitled 'Domestic Employment' was modelled by William Hackwood (d.1839) after a composition by Lady Elizabeth Templetown (d.1823) and was listed in Messrs. Wedgwood's 1787 catalogue. The Zodiac medallion, for instance appears on a pair of candelabra sold at Couturier Nicolay, Paris, 31st March 1994, lot 42; while a related sphinx-guarded clock was purchased in Paris around 1790 by Captain Swan (see P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dorés Français, Paris 1987, p.207, fig 239). The combination of blue and white jasperware plaques and the above mentioned sphinxes is found on a further closely related clock which was sold in these Rooms, 15 June 1995, lot 104.