Louis Philippe period table clock. France, ca. 1840.
Gilt and patinated bronze.
Honoré Pons movement.
The pendulum and the bell are missing. The machinery needs restoration.
Measurements: 41 x 29 x 10 cm.
Table clock made in gilded and patinated bronze at the beginning of the 19th century. The piece has been conceived through a sculptural concept characteristic of this period. It consists of a base with sharp edges, reflecting the taste for clean volumes characteristic of the aesthetics of the period. On the upper part of the base, which is extensively decorated with a vegetal pattern in relief, stands a gallant man dressed in the 18th-century style. The latter rests on the clock case, which is inscribed on the base of what appears to be a cut tree. The gilt-bronze dial has Breguet-type hands and Roman numerals. Scenes of this type were very common in the decoration of table clocks, often depicting mythical or religious figures, linked to a historicist sense and aesthetic.