Mantel Clock

Maker Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory (French, active from 1756 to the present)

ClassificationsDECORATIVE ARTS

Date1800-1810

MediumMarble, gilt bronze, porcelain, enamel, glass, brass.

Dimensions21 in. (53.3 cm.)

DescriptionThe clock's pedestal is supported by two sphinxes. The pedestal is decorated with two medallions and gilt bronze mounts. The clock itself is mounted on a second pedestal which has a low-relief frieze running around the entire base. At the top of the clock is a putto in a chariot, pulled by a bird. On either side of the clock are paired biscuit figures of a woman and a putto.

SignedPhilibert/Pont St. Michel A Paris painted on dial, gg 19 7 painted on back of dial.

InscribedThe biscuit groups are inscribed "La lecon a l'amour" and "La lecon de l'amour."

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Label TextThe theme of this clock seems to be the various activities of Amour (Love), or Cupid, who appears in the Sèvres biscuit porcelain figures, both giving and receiving lessons of love. Stock porcelain figures such as these were typical decoration for clocks. In fact, the Huntington collection includes another early 19th-century French clock, given to the museum in the late 1970s, with the same figures.

Status

On view

Object number10.107