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Lot Essay
This marble long case clock is attributed to the Symbolist sculptor, medalist and designer, Egide Rombaux (d.1942) on the basis of an almost identical known example signed 'E. Rombaux' and 'L. Evrard' on the marble. Rombaux is renowned for creating fluid and sinuous figures in marble, plaster and bronze demonstrated in a marble group, Filles de Satan (1903) acquired from the Triennial Exhibition of Antwerp in 1904, no. 657, and a plaster group, Le Vénusberg (1893), both in the Modern Art Museum in Brussels. The bas-relief subject of the present example is that of Atropos, one of three fates from Greek mythology who spin the thread of life, measure and cut it. Atropos cuts the thread, distinguishable by the scissors in her right hand and staff in her left. The design is replete with further allusions to time, a snake swallowing its own tail representing the eternal cycle of life, an oil-lamp suggesting light and life, and a bat, emblematic of night and death.
Rombaux was born at Schaerbeek, Brussels in 1865. He won the prix de Rome in 1891 allowing him to make two visits to the Italian capital prior to taking up an appointment as Professor at the Nationaal Hoger Instituut voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp, and later the Brussels Academy. He was awarded the Godecharle Prize and was made a member of the Brussels Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts. An Egide Rombaux Prize was created in 1943 and his studio was bequeathed to the Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique in 1947.
The clock's movement is signed 'E.O. Wehrle' for Eugene Wehrle, a Belgian clockmaker of no. 2 Place du Petit-Sablon, Brussels who exhibited at the Exposition Universelle of 1889 in Paris in the 'Horology' category.
Rombaux was born at Schaerbeek, Brussels in 1865. He won the prix de Rome in 1891 allowing him to make two visits to the Italian capital prior to taking up an appointment as Professor at the Nationaal Hoger Instituut voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp, and later the Brussels Academy. He was awarded the Godecharle Prize and was made a member of the Brussels Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts. An Egide Rombaux Prize was created in 1943 and his studio was bequeathed to the Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique in 1947.
The clock's movement is signed 'E.O. Wehrle' for Eugene Wehrle, a Belgian clockmaker of no. 2 Place du Petit-Sablon, Brussels who exhibited at the Exposition Universelle of 1889 in Paris in the 'Horology' category.