An ormolu pendulum clock with a chariot - image-1
An ormolu pendulum clock with a chariot - image-2
An ormolu pendulum clock with a chariot - image-1An ormolu pendulum clock with a chariot - image-2

Lot 1826 Dα

An ormolu pendulum clock with a chariot

Auction 1196 - overview Cologne
20.05.2022, 10:00 - Decorative Arts incl. Highly Important Mortars the Schwarzach Collection Part IV.
Estimate: 8.000 € - 10.000 €
Result: 13.750 € (incl. premium)
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An ormolu pendulum clock with a chariot

Fire-gilt bronze, white enamel dial, blued steel hands. 14-day running movement with spring suspension of the pendulum and half-hourly striking on a bell. Large mantle clock on an oblong base with appliques. The clock case formed as a classical chariot with rearing horses in which Athena stands behind the chariot driver and the wheel forms the clock face. H 45.2, W 48.8, D 11.8 cm.
Paris, early 19th C.

This imposing model runs under two names, as "Minerve exitant les chevaux de Diomède" or "Char de Télémaque", and was produced by both Jean-André Reiche (1752 - 1817) and Claude Galle (1758 - 1815). Diomedes, a hero from the Iliad, won against Ajax in a chariot race and Telemachos, the son of Penelope and Odysseus, was under the special protection of the goddess Athena.

Literature

Cf. Kjellberg, Encyclopédie de la pendule française du Moyen Age au XXe siècle, Paris 1997, p. 417. Kjellberg mentions an example in Malmaison Palace and a further example is housed in the Musée du Temps in the Palais Granvelle in Besançon.