Portico Clock, Restoration Period.

-Pendulum-portico in nicely chiseled and gilded bronze with top decoration of a torchiere with flaming brandon flanked by two swans facing each other, acanthus florets and bases, florets and fine foliage with laurel and ivy. Entablature with pots-à-feu resting on two tapered uprights embellished with stylized anthem applique motifs, grained laurel tabs centered with a flowerette and surmounted by sheathed busts of Egyptian women. Under the dial, two eagles facing each other, perched, wings outstretched, on laurel boughs and holding in their talons a ribboned floral crown. Plumb with the balance, circular lens adorned with a medallion animated by two foster doves kissing above their nest. The whole rests on an oval base set with ears, brettes, squared supported by four feet in flattened balls ringed with pearls. White enamelled circular dial with Roman numerals for the hours and Arabic numerals for the minutes. Signed: "Hersant à Orléans". XIXth century, Restoration period. Around 1825. - Briefly mentioned by Tardy in his Dictionary of Watchmakers (1976, p.297), the watchmaker Hersant * seems to be active in Orléans, the city where he exercised his profession, "Prés de la Préfecture", around the year 1825. Although succinct, this bibliographical reference therefore allows us to establish the dating of our pendulum. Situated at the crossroads of two aesthetic trends, this pretty watchmaking piece from the Restoration period (1815-1830) plays with references, combining them not without ambivalence. Also, it combines with the architectural form of the so-called portico clocks inherited from the century of Louis XVI, the Egyptian element of engendered female figures with faces surrounded by nemes characteristic of the style initiated by Vivant Denon on his return from the Egyptian campaign. by Bonaparte (1798). The gracefulness of its silhouette as well as the preciousness of its openwork gilded bronze adornment with a loose design typical of Empire Style achievements welcome antiquing references widely used in the last third of the eighteenth century (florets, caps, acanthus foliage, laurel , crown, flare, ..). However, some ornamental motifs reinvested by the First Empire acquire a different symbolism. Thus, the Swan, a major figure in the ornamental repertoire of the first decade of the 19th century associated with the theme of fertile love in many decorative or furniture pieces from this period, is here called upon as a bird carrying light; the flaming torchiere, mismatched by concomitant amorous attributes (quiver, bow, etc.), supports this Apollonian dimension. Placed at the top, they symbolize Dawn. Retaining in their talons a wrapped flower crown, and not thunderbolts, the Eagles shed the imperial iconography associated with the Jupiterian Eagle. As Lacombe de Prezl notifies in his Iconological Dictionary (1779), "the eagle was sometimes used to designate the Apotheosis of Princes or Princesses" which they also wore "in the air". However, in 1825 takes place the Coronation of Charles X. Cerre princely and no longer imperial apotheosis is tacitly signified in the ramifications of laurel, ivy, foliage linked to joy and fidelity. Also, both from a formal and iconographic point of view, our pendulum reveals the tastes and inclinations of the clientele of that time in search, following the Napoleonic disasters, for appeasement and reconstruction. This desire is confirmed by the medallion adorning its lens: fluttering above their impatient and hungry nest, the couple of foster birds pecking at each other praise the royal mane conducive to new happiness. Decorative object, instrument for measuring Time, any quality watchmaking creation has a particular historical dimension. What attests, with knowledge and restraint, the clock that we propose. - The Master Watchmaker: Hersant in Orléans. A little more in-depth research allows us to consider the affiliation, both family and professional, existing between Sieur Hersant (Louis-François?) Practicing in Orléans and Hersant father and son, established in Paris, at n ° 3-5 rue Sainte. -Anasthase during the 1870s. "Manufacturer of pendulum movements of all kinds", Member of the Watchmaking Societies and of the Parisian trade unions ", initiator of an eponymous Prize, Hersant father-Jean-Louis Hersant (11828-1889) ) - “enjoyed strong sympathy among his peers.” He was the co-founder alongside eminent watchmakers (Lepaute, Detouche, Desfontaines, Diette, Japy, Sandoz, Woog frères) of the Ecole d'Horlogerie de Paris His son, at 9, rue Saint-Gilles, took over the business in 1880 before selling the family business in 1892 to "la maison Charlot".