Porcelain And Gilt Bronze Vase Clock With The Effigy Of Empress Eugénie. XIX Century

Original Louis XVI Style Pendulum-Vase in hard porcelain with a so-called Beau Bleu background enhanced with listels, a scattering of florets and florets, oves and lobed arches painted gold; the whole embellished by bands and a medallion decorated on a golden background with a delicate polychrome decoration with fine arabesque motifs of foliage and flowers. The chased gilded bronze frame elegantly combines neo-classical ornaments (frêtel with grained button, fleurons, leaves and scrolls of acanthus foliage, friezes of gadroons, ovates and interlacing, modillions) with feminine trimmings motifs ( lambrequins, fringed draping), beaded or flowered rose garlands. Summed by two ribboned torchieres with flaming brandons echoed by a ravishing figure in the round of a fluttering Cupid, the gilded bronze dial set with a string of pearls, decorated with a central acanthus rosette, bears the hours in figures Romans painted black on white enamelled cartridges. Carried by three ringed spinning top legs, this Pendulum-Vase is erected on an oval base with welcoming projections on the facade, set in an acanthus fleuron (forming a base), a beaded medallion embellished with a ribboned knot uniting a feathered quiver of arrows and a wreath of roses. High up, riveted to a pastille, a precious medallion displays like a cameo the "antique" profile of a jeweled young woman, with hair haloed with flowers. We can guess in the features of this haughty effigy the Empress Eugénie (Eugènie de Montijo, 1826-1920), a true investigator in the French decorative arts of the Louis XVI revival which the watch piece described here illustrates with elegance and finesse. Parisian work in Louis XVI-Empress style from the second half of the 19th century. Circa 1870-1880. Dimensions: H.: 42 cm;-L.: 29 cm;-Dr.: 22 cm. Materials: gilded bronze; hard porcelain with an oven blue background; polychrome painted decoration and gold highlights; enamel and glass. Good condition. Small wear to the gold highlights.