Important musical mantel clock in wood, gilded bronze, and silk, France, Louis XVI period.
This elegant mantel clock consists of a portico bearing the clock face, with vegetal decoration below, and an ornamental marquetry apparatus, made of precious woods, and gilded and chiseled bronze. Above the clock face and the columns, fluted in the Doric manner and with a gilded Corinthian capital, are elaborate gilded vegetal and floral elements. The clock face is in white enamel with Roman and Arabic numerals, and the hands are in gilded and chiseled bronze.
The lower part of the clock features marquetry de bois with geometric motifs and columns on the sides embellished with gilded capitals and details in the fluting. On the front is the door of the musical case, framed by a square of studs and covered by a layer of red fabric covered by a perforated bronze workmanship in the shape of bellflowers. Above it is a festoon with leaves and flowers that winds along the entire length; in the center a garland with laurel branches, musical instruments, and sheet music in bored and finely chiseled bronze.
On the back of the case, you can see the musical mechanism formed by a carillon connected to small organ pipes.
Dimensions: 76x42.5x24 cm.
Period: late eighteenth century
