A Napoleon III Gilt and Silvered Bronze, Onyx and Enamel Figural Three-Piece Clock Garniture

Object Description

A Napoleon III Gilt and Silvered Bronze, Onyx and Champlevé Enamel Figural Three-Piece Clock Garniture. By Eugène Cornu for the Société des Marbres Onyx d’Algerie, the figure cast from a model by Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (1824-1887), the movement by Eugène Farcot, Paris.

Comprising a mantle clock and a pair of ten-light candelabra. The clock surmounted by a silver and gilt-bronze figure of a neoclassical diaphanous female figure sculpted by Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse. The figure, commonly identified as Urania, the Greek goddess of astronomy, suspends a conical pendulum with star-studded orb weight which rotates in a circular manner around a point at her feet. This is in addition to the traditional movement which operates the clock dial. The dial is housed in a onyx marble case shaped as an architectural entablature and further ornamented by champlevé enamel plaques with geometric scrolled decoration above a stepped onyx base. The clock workings visible through the open dial. The dial is of gilt-bronze with brass hands and Roman numeral markers. The twin barrel movement has a rack striking to bell.

The candelabra are designed en suite with scrolled branches issuing leaf-cast nozzles, all surrounding a central onyx finial. The vase shaped bodies of onyx marble encircled by a champlevé enamel plaque with geometric scrolled decoration and flanked by loop handles. On a gilt-bronze socle and onyx foot.

Signed to the clock dial ‘Sté des marbres onyx d’Algérie / Bd des Italiens 24, Paris’. The clock movement with ‘EF’ monogram for Eugène Farcot.

France. Circa, 1860.

Approximate Dimensions
The clock
Height : 116 cm | 46 inches
Width : 48 cm | 19 inches
Depth : 29 cm | 11 inches

The candelabra
Height: 80 cm | 31 inches
Width: 40 cm | 16 inches
Depth: 40 cm | 16 inches

Object History

The beauty and sophistication of Carrier-Belluse’s figure is matched by the impressive technical achievement of the conical pendulum escapement by Eugène Farcot. The ‘mystery movement’ which turns the orb and pendulum held by the figure, also rotates the mechanism controlling the motion of the inner wheels. A pioneering engineer in many fields, Farcot was the most renowned nineteenth century maker of conical pendulum and ‘ingenious mystery’ clocks, taking out successive patents throughout his long career. Together with the Societe des Marbres Onyx d’Algerie, Farcot exhibited examples of large figural conical pendulum clocks at the Paris Exposition of 1867, at the 1876 Philadelphia Exhibition and at the 1878 Paris Exposition.

The clock base and candelabra were made by the Société des Marbres Onyx d’Algerie and Eug. Cornu of Paris, who mined and fashioned luxurious Algerian marble and were celebrated for the quality of their production and design. The Cashmere onyx to this clock and candelabra is of the finest quality which can be distinguished by its translucency and white colour, free from brown flecks and inclusions. Onyx, known since antiquity and used by both the ancient Egyptians and Roman civilisations, was first shown in modern times at the 1862 International Exhibition in London to great acclaim, having only been rediscovered in 1849 in Oran, Algeria.

This clock movement is of eight-day duration, with two trains, one for the timekeeping and the second for striking. The clock strikes on the hour and the half hour on a bell. The skeletonised movement has a drive running up through the marble case where it has a rotating arm. This arm connects to the bottom of the pendulum, which rotates in a circular motion, governing the turning of the gilt-bronze arm and therefore the speed and synchronisation of the clock. The pendulum is suspended using the Cardan system in order to allow for free circular motion. The dial is of gilt-bronze finely engraved with the maker ‘Sté des marbres onyx d’Algérie / Bd des Italiens 24, Paris’.

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Object Details