Table clock with trim; France, late 19th century

Table clock with trim; France, late 19th century
Glazed porcelain
Bronze
Needs restoration
Measurements: 39 x 22 x 13 cm. / Height: 37 cm.

Table set consisting of a clock and a pair of three-light candelabra, made of gilded bronze with turquoise-glazed porcelain plaques in the Sèvres style. The clock, with an architectural case, features a porcelain dial with Roman numerals on a turquoise background, signed by Charles Martin et Cie, and is decorated on the front with a hand-painted porcelain plaque depicting a romantic scene of a couple in a landscape; the top is crowned by an ovoid turquoise porcelain urn with gilded bronze handles. The base, with a mixtilinear profile, combines chiseled bronze with porcelain panels and rests on small feet. The matching candelabra feature a shaft topped by a turquoise urn with gilded handles, resting on a pedestal decorated with a porcelain plaque depicting a scene similar to that on the clock, and three sinuous light arms in gilded bronze. The Paris-style movement incorporates a Brocot suspension mechanism.

Charles Martin et Cie was a Parisian watchmaking firm active in the last quarter of the 19th century, with a store on the Boulevard des Italiens, one of the most prestigious commercial thoroughfares in Paris at the time and the traditional home of numerous jewelers, watchmakers, and luxury houses. The signature on the dial of this type of piece typically identifies the retailer or “marchand-horloger” who sold and signed the finished piece, even though the movement itself may have come from one of the major specialized workshops in the Paris region—a very common practice in French large-scale watchmaking of this period.