Table clock; France, late 19th century

Table clock; France, late 19th century
Gilded bronze
Shows signs of wear; the hour hand is missing.
Needs servicing
Measurements: 50 x 35 x 29 cm.

A gilded and patinated bronze table clock from the late 19th century, featuring an allegorical composition centered on the passage of time. The clock face is set atop a large, dark-patinated sphere or globe, featuring Roman numerals and gilded hands, around which are grouped three winged cherubs in the round: two of them reclining on the upper part of the globe, one with an arm raised holding a flower, while a third clings with both hands to a large star-patterned cloth—like a celestial mantle—that wraps around the base of the globe and falls in broad folds onto a pedestal of clouds. The ensemble rests on an oval base with a rocaille profile, openworked with scrolls, scallop shells, and plant motifs, all in gilded bronze in the Louis XV style. The movement, of the Paris type, incorporates a Brocot suspension.

The composition, featuring the terrestrial or celestial globe supported and surrounded by cherubs amid clouds and stars, evokes an allegorical representation of time or the universe—a recurring theme in late 18th-century French ceremonial timepieces, which often adorned the clock’s body itself, here transformed into an astral sphere, with great theatrical flair.