Object Description
Byzantine style gilt bronze and champlevé enamel clock garniture by Raingo Frères
French, late 19th Century
Clock: Height 55cm, width 34cm, depth 25cm
Candelabra: Height 67cm, width 31cm, depth 28cm
The present clock set is by Raingo Frères, one of nineteenth-century France’s leading producers of luxury clocks. The set, which comprises a mantel clock and a pair of candelabra, is crafted from gilt bronze and champlevé enamel in the very unusual Neo-Byzantine style. The plinth-form clock case is flanked by a series of champlevé enamel inset column pairs interspersed with Panther head mounts. The front face of the clock features a gilt bronze dial above and a series of roundels below adorned with figures and motifs in relief above an enamel ground. The domed top is flanked by four seated winged panthers, issuing tails that form a buttress-like structure above the clock. The candelabra are similarly decorated, each issuing six scrolled light branches.
The clock movement is signed ‘Raingo Frères’.