Object Description
Neoclassical style gilt bronze and malachite mantel clock
French, late 19th Century
Height 47cm, width 19cm, depth 19cm
This wonderful Louis XVI style mantel clock is designed in malachite and gilt bronze—with the malachite being a later veneer. The clock takes after a famous original 1775 model by Brécourt, known as ‘Vase pendule a dauphins’. The case is modelled as a malachite vase with a centrally set white enamel dial encompassed by tied gilt bronze acanthus leaves. The sides of the case are set with Baroque style gilt bronze dolphins, each of which issues two streams of gilt bronze water—the streams converging on the top of the clock in the effect of a fountain. The case is raised on a gilt bronze waisted plinth, which is raised above a malachite stepped podium mounted with gilt bronze pierced foliate friezes.