A Louis XIV style tortoiseshell clock
Two-part oak clock case inlaid in “première partie“ style with tortoiseshell and brass. With ormolu mountings. Four models of horses supporting the clock face with glazed engraved bronze dial, enamel cartouche indices and blued steel hands. The pediment supported by caryatids, the glazed front with a depiction of Jupiter in his chariot. Crowned by a figure of Minerva with a shield and speer. 14-day movement with half-hourly striking on a bell. The plate stamped "AD. MOUGIN DEUX MEDAILLES". H tip of speer 111.5, W ca. 61, D ca. 24 cm.
Paris, late 19th C., the movement by Adolphe Mougin (1848 – 1928?).
The clock model presented here was featured under the title "Pendule propre pour une chambre" in Mariette's 1724 publication "Nouveaux Desseins de Meubles et Ouvrages de Bronze et de Marqueterie". Examples of pendulum clocks based exactly on the design depicting the abduction of Cybele in front of the glazing can be seen in the royal chambers of Versailles and in the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Literature
For the prototype see Tardy, La Pendule Française, Ire partie, Paris 1967, p. 138; Atwood / Andrews, The Time Museum an Introduction, Illinois 1983, p. 12; Ottomeyer/Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich 1986, vol. I, p. 42 f.; Alcouffe e.a., Furniture Collections in the Louvre, vol. I, no. 30.