Important Napoleon III garrison, Louis XVI style, c. 1860.

Important Napoleon III harness, Louis XVI style, c. 1860.
Gilded and silvered bronze with lapis lazuli.
It has machinery of the First Empire.
Measurements: 67 x 74 x 20 cm; 70 cm (candlesticks).
This important clock, made around 1860 under the reign of Napoleon III, represents an excellent manifestation of French decorative historicism in its most refined variant: the reinterpretation of the Louis XVI style. Consisting of a central clock flanked by two candelabra, this work not only embodies the technical perfection of 19th century goldsmithery, but also the symbolic and cultural richness of an era that found in the classical past its ideal mirror.
The clock, the absolute center of the composition, stands on a gilt bronze base richly ornamented with lapis lazuli details, opulently framing a dial with enameled Roman numerals on a blue background. On both sides, two putti, child figures of clear Renaissance inspiration, appear absorbed in reading and writing. These representations, far from being merely decorative, allude to the enlightened values of education, knowledge and study, all of them exalted by the neoclassical ideology. Crowning the piece, a celestial globe supported by an ornamental structure suggests a symbolic domain of universal knowledge, in a gesture that refers both to astronomy and to the scientific rationalism of the 18th century.
The side candelabra of six lights each, also worked in gilded bronze, display a decorative exuberance that verges on the baroque, but is contained within the formal order characteristic of the Louis XVI style. From each emerge stylized lily flowers, also made in bronze, whose plastic richness and idealized naturalism further elevate the whole. On their bodies, mythological motifs and vegetal garlands complete an iconography that celebrates both fertility and artistic splendor. The profusion of details, from the coiled cherubs to the carefully modulated bases, reveals the hand of highly skilled goldsmiths, probably belonging to one of the great Parisian workshops of the time, such as Denière or Raingo Frères.
This type of design influenced not only the French but also the European aristocracy, and set a standard in the manufacture of luxury objects. The gilding technique he employed, along with the ability to sculpt minute details in bronze, established an aesthetic ideal that would continue throughout the 19th century. The opulence of his works reflected the power and sophistication of the era, turning each object into a display of wealth and social status.