Retour d’Égypte-style mantelpiece. France, last quarter of the 19th century.

Retour d’Égypte-style fireplace set. France, last quarter of the 19th century.
A three-piece set consisting of a table clock and two goblets on pedestals.
Black and red marble, with chiseled decorations.
Dial signed “Contreau, Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, Paris.”
Paris-style mechanical movement with chime.
Includes pendulum and key.
Needs servicing. Some slight chipping.
Measurements: 47 x 42 x 17 cm (clock); 33 cm high (cups).

With an architectural structure and rigorous symmetry, the clock takes the form of an Egyptian pylon with sloping walls, resting on a stepped base and topped by a wide cornice. Two small red marble vases flank the upper body, while the side pieces depict cups of classical profile placed on pedestals of identical monumental design.

The decoration features a wide range of Egyptian-inspired motifs, including winged sun discs, falcons, sphinxes, cobras, freely interpreted hieroglyphs, and figures in profile. These motifs, incised and polychromed on the dark marble, stand out for their graphic quality. The dial extends this material combination with a reddish center, a black ring featuring gilded Roman numerals, and a wide bronze bezel.

The ensemble is part of the historicist revival of the Retour d’Égypte style. This stylistic vocabulary had become particularly widespread during the Empire period, driven by the Napoleonic campaign and by works such as those of Percier and Fontaine, and was reinterpreted with renewed freedom during the second half of the 19th century, within the eclecticism of the European decorative arts.