Desk clock; France, Louis XVI, c. 1780.

Desk clock; France, Louis XVI, c. 1780.
Marble, enamel dial and brass mounts.
It has silk thread suspension.
The calendar function is disabled.
In working order, recently overhauled.
Measurements: 66 x 36 x 23 cm.
Desk clock, dated in France around 1780 during the reign of Louis XVI, which is an outstanding work both for its technical quality and for the symbolic charge of its composition. Known under the titles of Lost Love or The Passage of Time, the sculptural ensemble is made of finely carved white marble, and represents a female figure of clear classical inspiration: a vestal virgin, erect in a meditative attitude, leaning gently on an urn. The serene and restrained pose of the figure, added to the delicacy of its modeling, reinforces a melancholic and allegorical reading, where purity, loss and the fleetingness of time are visually intertwined.
The clock itself is integrated with remarkable discretion into the sculptural scene: a ringed bronze dial. The dial's hands, designed in the form of stylized lyres, allude to both harmony and music, traditionally associated with the passage of time and the consolation of memory.
The base of the clock, in gray marble, subtly contrasts with the whiteness of the main figure, providing a chromatic support that enhances the richness of the whole and contributes to the perception of this object as a piece of decorative art. The combination of precious materials, the refined execution and the deeply evocative iconography place this clock within the most refined neoclassical aesthetics of the French 18th century, in which formal rigor, the influence of Greco-Roman antiquity and a modern sensibility towards the symbolic converge.