Mantel clock with Muse and writers. Blued and gilt bronze, Paris movement. France, 19th century. Movement in perfect working order. A blued and gilt bronze table clock with a Parisian movement and a white dial with a gilt bronze center (Roman numerals for the hours, lines for the minutes, and Breguet-style hands). The rectangular pedestal rests on supports and features architectural decoration. The rectangular base of the clock displays vegetal wreaths with scrolls highlighting cartouches (bearing the names: Virgile, Tasse, Homer, Racine, Voltaire). The dial and movement are housed in a gilt bronze piece resembling a bookshelf, upon which appear books, a laurel wreath, and a musical instrument. A blued bronze female figure, dressed in a tunic, holds this kithara, a plucked string instrument from ancient Greece, similar to the lyre (the difference being the soundbox, so this could be a lyre). The female figure would be a Muse: these classical deities of Greek mythology inspired the arts; daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, companions of the god Apollo in his retinue, each is associated with a branch of art and knowledge. She is linked to Calliope, the lyre player (muse of eloquence, beauty, and epic poetry), and to Erato, the cithara player (muse of lyric and love poetry). Regarding the names mentioned, the first refers to Publius Vergilius Maro (70 BC–19 BC), the Roman poet and author of the Aeneid, the Georgics, and other works, who was also known for his role as a guide in Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Torquato Tasso (1544–1595), the Italian poet and author of Jerusalem Delivered, Rinaldo, and other works, is known as "Le Tasse" in French. Homer is the name given to the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundations of Greco-Roman epic literature. Racine is the surname, among others, of the French playwright Jean Racine (1639–1699) and his son, the poet Louis Racine (1692–1763). François-Marie Arouet (Paris, 1694-1778), better known as Voltaire, was a French writer, historian, philosopher, and lawyer, with numerous literary and philosophical writings. Interestingly, an Empire clock (located in a private French collection) is known to exist in the form of a library with books, very similar to the present piece. It is worth remembering that the high level of specialization among French bronze workers, which resulted in works of art of exceptional quality, meant that several pieces of the same model were created if it proved popular with the aristocracy and upper classes. For this reason, several clocks, with slight differences from the present one (mainly in the dial and the absence of blued bronze), are preserved in private collections and date from the early 19th century. Weight: 12.7 kg.
· Size: 40x15x57 cms.
ANTIQUES
MISCELLANEUS;CLOCKS
Ref.: ZF1069
