A large and impressive French bronze and ormolu mounted white marble clock case, late 18th or early 19th century

Comparative Literature:

A clock of related design by Dumont and Le Paute is illustrated in Tardy Les Plus Belles Pendules Francaises, Paris 1994, p.100. Tardy suggests that the allegory is Earth asking Chronos for protection from the monsters let loose by Heaven, a theme that was to be reproduced in the Empire period. Another example is illustrated p.270 (op.cit).

An iconographical clock of this model, with bronze figures in the manner of Andre Ravrio (matre 1777) and movement by Charles-Guillaume Manire (1816) is in the Palais du Luxembourg, Paris, while another is in the Royal Collection (see Cedric Jagger Royal Clocks, London 1983, fig.208 and E. Niehuser Die franzosische Bronzeuhr, Munich 1997, no.617).

Clocks of related design were sold Sotheby Parke Bernet & Co. house sale, Mentmore, 18 May 1977, lot 45 and Christie's London, 12 April 1984, lot 49.

Maniere, Charles-Guillaume, son of Antoine-Guillaume. Paris: Rue de Prouvaires, 1781, with his father; Rue des Merciers, 1789; Rue Christine, 1806; Rue Bertin-Poire, 1810-12.