An ormolu pendulum clock with the Oath of the Horatii - image-1

Lot 425 Dα

An ormolu pendulum clock with the Oath of the Horatii

Auction 1220 - overview Cologne
17.05.2023, 14:00 - Furniture Decorative Arts
Estimate: 6.000 € - 8.000 €

An ormolu pendulum clock with the Oath of the Horatii

Ormolu clock with guilloched dial, black numerals and blued steel hands. 14-day running movement with thread suspension and half-hourly striking on a bell. Imposing mantle clock, cast in several parts. H 50.5, W 53.5, D 17.5 cm.
Paris, 19th C.

Hans Ottomeyer and Peter Pröschel describe this clock as the best known from the Empire period, the reign of Napoléon I. With fully sculpted figures, it recreates the famous painting by Jacques Louis David, which the painter completed in 1784, still during the "ancien régime", the reign of the French King Louis XVI, but which became a symbol of the popular movement during the Revolution. The clock was offered in various sizes and was also cast by Galle and Feuchère, among others.

Provenance

European private ownership.

Literature

Cf. Ottomeyer/Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen. Die Bronzearbeiten des Spätbarock und Klassizismus, vol. I, Munich 1986, illus. 5.13.5.