Louis XVI Period Desk Clock

Desk or table clock representing a horse placed on a rectangular terrace with gilded bronze scroll feet. It carries on its back a cylindrical movement housed in a leafy box.

The dial has a reading of the time and a reading of the days; cock movement.

Quite rare on the market, this type of clock usually presents a horse in gilded bronze or in bronze with a brown patina. Our horse has the particularity of being lacquered red. This type of lacquered bronzes was created from the 1735s in Paris, under the impetus of merchants. First appeared a production of Chinese characters in lacquered bronze which were used at will to decorate a multitude of extremely refined objects (clocks, paper plates, wall sconces, etc.). This type of object brings a touch of exoticism to Western objects and will subsequently be declined on different non-exotic models like our horse.

Invented by the Martin brothers in Paris, the varnish that bears their name was used from the 1740s to compete with oriental lacquers. It was deployed on various supports (furniture, bathroom fixtures, etc.), then on lacquered sheet metal or bronze elements (wall clock elements, coolers, etc.).

Movement as is, requiring servicing.
Accident to the enamel dial (restorable).

Paris, Louis XVI period work.

Height: 27.5 cm.
Width: 14 cm.
Depth: 7.5 cm.