Object Description
Gilt-bronze Cartel Clock and Barometer set by Lerolle Frères
French, c. 1860
Barometer: height 71cm, width 43cm, depth 15cm
Clock: height 71cm, width 40cm, depth 15cm
Each with floral decoration and enamel cartouches that are signed, as well as the clock movement, this fantastic clock and barometer set were made by Lerolle Frères in France in the mid to late nineteenth century. With elaborate and extensive ormolu decoration, in a decadent Baroque style, the gilding is virtually identical on both pieces, and the dial faces are sculpted in low relief, and set with enamel cartouches for the dial displays and signatures of the makers.
Louis Lerolle (1813-1875), passes on his bronze foundry, to his sons Édouard-François and Camille, in 1849, and then becomes known as “Lerolle Frères”. At the Exhibition of Agricultural and Industrial Products in 1849, they won a silver medal. They took part in the major exhibitions of the second half of the 19th century, notably the Universal Exhibition of 1867.