Desk Clock; FANNIÈRES FRÈREs, France, c.1860.

Desk clock; FANNIÈRES FRÈREs, France, c.1860.
Chiseled gilt and silvered bronze on green marble base and bronze legs.
Signed "Fannière Fres".
Measurements: 22 x 22 x 12 cm.
French table clock of sculptural conception made of gilded, silvered and chiseled bronze with green marble base and bronze legs.
The piece stands out for the presentation of a young Cupid as an Atlantean, allegorical theme, very much to the taste of the time, which presents Time in the form of a cherub holding on his back a globe that encloses the mechanism and indicates the hours engraved in Roman numerals. The figure of the Cúpido is seated on a contoured balcony flanked by bouquets of flowers.
Company founded in 1839 by François-Auguste Fannière (Longwy 1818-Paris 1900) and François-Joseph-Louis Fannière (Longwy 1820-Paris 1897), nephews and pupils of the goldsmith Fauconnier. They were draftsmen, sculptors, chiselers and manufacturers at the same time, they worked for the main goldsmiths of Paris, Odiot, Froment-Meurice and Christofle, and exhibited only from 1862 under their own names. The house passed into the hands of François-Joseph-Louis Fannière's son in 1900, and subsequently to Fernand Poisson.