Louis XVI table clock; France, c. 1780.

Louis XVI table clock; France, c. 1780.
Marble, gilded bronze and silk thread suspension.
Measurements: 41 x 28 x 14 cm.
Table clock of sculptural conception. The architecture of the piece is articulated with an almost scenographic clarity. The finely turned columns, the garlands and the vegetal details refer to the neoclassical language, inspired by the Antiquity, where the decoration never eclipses the structure, but accompanies it with moderation.
Beyond its function, the clock is presented as an object of representation. Designed to preside over an aristocratic or enlightened bourgeois interior, it should be noted that in the France of Louis XVI, table clocks occupied a central place in courtly and bourgeois life, not only as instruments for measuring time, but also as authentic objects of social representation. Integrated into the decoration of salons and cabinets, these clocks combined the advances of watchmaking with the decorative arts, incorporating refined gilt bronze, marble or porcelain cases, often inspired by neoclassical taste. They symbolized order, reason and enlightened progress, and reflected the high technical and artistic level of Parisian workshops, which had become European benchmarks on the eve of the Revolution.