Egyptian-inspired Empire Clock, ca. 1810

Egyptian-inspired Empire clock, ca. 1810.
Patinated bronze. Ormolu dial. Red marble base.
It has small restorations.
Dial signed "Bailly", watchmaker active in Menars street and Richelieu street in 1810.
Measurements: 47 x 25 x 16,5 cm.

Napoleon's campaign in Egypt in 1798 was the starting point of the Egyptomania that would dominate French art in the early nineteenth century. The future emperor and his troops were able to see first hand the great temples, monumental sculptures and pyramids, but the main architects of the dissemination of these images were the artists who accompanied the troops, and who devoted themselves to making sketches and watercolors of the various landscapes. When these works arrived in France, they were engraved and used as the basis for large oil paintings and sculptures. Thanks to these images, a new iconographic repertoire arrived in Europe, based on ancient Egyptian art but recreated with freedom and fantasy.
This table clock is a clear example of this taste for the Egyptian, which will develop not only in the early nineteenth century but will be taken up again with force at the end of the century, within the context of historicism. Thus, we see a piece that represents a seated woman holding a clock in her arms. These solemn figures became very popular in the 19th century, as attested by the similar clocks that survive to this day. The clock we present here is inspired by others preserved today in museums and palaces, such as the one in the Malmaison Museum or the Pavlovsk Palace in St. Petersburg, among others.