Object Description
This fine, antique mantel clock is constructed in ebonised wood by the renowned Parisian maker of automata, Xavier Tharin (French, active mid 19th Century). The clock face is set onto a curled, stylized pediment atop the clock case. The face is of white enamel, featuring black Roman numerals and signed ‘Tharin a Paris’, and is bordered in beaded ormolu. The pediment in which the face is set is decorated with ormolu mounts of stylized acanthus leaf form. The pediment is set onto a rectangular frame of ebonised wood, inside which is set a musical automaton scene of monks taking a meal inside a monastery hall. The figures within the scene are moved by the mechanism using the pull cord and two buttons to the side of the plinth, upon which the framed scene is set. The rectangular frame is flanked by foliate wooden scrolls on either side. The clock sits on a rectangular plinth, mounted around the edges with ormolu surrounds, and decorated to the front centre with ormolu mounts of swans drinking from a fountain. The movement can be accessed from the back of the case, and is stamped ‘Tharin Paris.’