The French clock

From the end of the 18th century, artists rose up against classical rigidity and the cult of ideal beauty, expressing their preference for more realistic subjects, closer to their time. This new style, exalting emotion, sensitivity, imagination, and fantasy, is also evident in Romantic period clocks.

During the Restoration , bronze makers took a prominent place in the art of watchmaking . They skillfully depicted anecdotal scenes, episodes from daily life, Gothic architecture and exotic scenes.

The 1830s marked an evolution in the ornamental grammar of clocks. Devoid of figures, they were adorned with more or less antique motifs such as horns of plenty, friezes of palmettes, finely chased garlands framing the gilded bronze movement, or flower baskets, a characteristic motif of the Restoration period.

During the reign of Louis-Philippe, these decorative motifs became busier, more abundant and more boldly chased.

Rocaille clock decorated with floral motifs

Clocks with motifs were very popular with a new, mainly bourgeois clientele. Neoclassicism, which continued under the Empire and the Restoration, provided scenes and characters drawn from mythology and ancient history.

Present on Louis XVI clocks, they will be taken up again during the first thirty years of the 19th century. Among the most common, we find Apollo and Diana the Huntress, most often copied from Greco-Roman antiquities, Orpheus, Mercury, Adonis, Chronos accompanied by bas-reliefs copied from Greek vases, but also and above all Venus and Eros, god of love, crowning Psyche or simply playing the harp or drumming.

However, it is the scenes of domestic life that are the most commonly drawn sources. The clocks that inventories call "library model" show, through the representative selection of furniture objects, the intimate atmosphere of the study. The theme of reading, very often represented on clocks from the beginning of the 19th century, is often associated with History, Arts and Sciences.

Empire clock "The spinner"

Around 1830, enameled clocks were very popular. This was the period when scenes in the neoclassical style gave way to romantic-inspired flower decorations. Executed in champlevé enamels of various colors, the flowers were arranged in varied and sometimes very elaborate compositions, as evidenced, for example, by our clock signed Jacob Petit .

Porcelain clock in the Jacob Petit style

While the Middle Ages, Henry IV and Mary Stuart were the subjects of great interest to historicists around 1820, the Far East has fascinated the Western world since the 18th century. The movement gained momentum during the reign of Louis XV, resulting in the creation of numerous pieces of furniture and objects "in the taste of China". The vogue for the exotic continued in the first decades of the 19th century, with subjects inspired by Africa and America.

Romantic period clocks feature a wide range of motifs inspired by diverse exotic sources, such as black populations, Turks, and even the Chinese, all of which are particularly appreciated by connoisseurs. These motifs reflect the era's taste for faraway lands, which continued to fire the imaginations of artists in search of mystery and exoticism.

Esmeralda" clock

Bibliography

-La pendule à sujet du Directoire à Louis Philippe, Saint-Omer,Musée de l'Hôtel Sandelin, June 26-September 12, 1993.
-Cardinal, Catherine, L'Horlogerie dans l'histoire, les arts et les sciences: chefs-d'œuvre du Musée international d'horlogerie de La Chaux-de-Fonds, Suisse, Lausanne, Scriptar, 1983.
-Dupuy-Baylet, Marie-France, "Les pendules des premières années du XIXe siècle et leur cortège d'objets mobiliers", L'Estampille/L'objet d'art, June 1997, pp. 76-82.
-Dupuy-Baylet, Marie-France, "Les pendules des lendemains de la Révolution", L'Estampille/L'objet d'art, May 1998, pp. 54-65.
-Kjellberg, Pierre, Encyclopédie de la pendule française du Moyen Age au XXe siècle, Paris, Editions de l'Aamateur, 1997.