Oriental style empire clock; France, early 19th century.

Empire clock oriental style; France, early nineteenth century.
Gilt bronze and enameled dial.
Dial signed Gaston Jolly.
Presents restorations and precise tuning.
Measurements: 37.5 x 30 cm.
Clock of the Empire period, a period marked by the neoclassical taste promoted during the government of Napoleon Bonaparte. Made in gilded bronze, it masterfully combines matte and burnished surfaces, a characteristic resource of the best Parisian bronze artists of the early nineteenth century.
The composition is presided over by a female figure dressed in clothing inspired by the Orient, seated on a cushion and holding a disk decorated with geometric motifs. This iconography responds to the phenomenon of early Orientalism, a trend that aroused great interest in Europe after the Napoleonic campaigns in Egypt and the growing contact with cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Near East.
The circular white enamel sphere, signed Gaston Jolly. François-Pierre Jolly, known as Gaston-Jolly, was one of the most important Parisian watchmakers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. After obtaining the title of master watchmaker on May 6, 1784, he established his workshop on rue d'Arcis and quickly earned a reputation among connoisseurs of Parisian watchmaking.
During the Directory and the Napoleonic Empire, he created numerous timepieces that were highly appreciated for the quality of their mechanisms and the originality of their designs. It is documented that he had his establishment first in the rue Pavée Saint-Sauveur between 1810 and 1820, and then on the boulevard Poissonnière in 1820. Some of his creations are registered during the Empire as belonging to prominent collectors of the time, including the wife of Charles-Philibert-Marie-Gaston de Lévis, Count of Mirepoix, and Bernard-Charles-Louis-Victor, Marquis de Lostanges, chamberlain of Napoleon.