Featured French Empire Gilt Bronze Clock circa 1810

Hello all,

I picked this up over the weekend and thought I’d share.

12” tall ormolu bronze French Empire lyre clock by master bronzier Andre-Antoine Ravrio and movement by Claude Hemon

The movement is not working, unfortunately. However the case itself appears to have some notability.

Andre-Antoine Ravrio gained tremendous notoriety in early 19th Century France by sculpting bronzes for Empress Josephine and in 1810 he was commissioned as Napoleon Bonaparte’s chief bronzier. He was overcome by mercury fumes and died in 1814.

On the bottom is a paper label with Cyrillic characters which translate directly to:

“Museums of the City
Dept. Int. Removed Premises”

So somehow this French piece was found to be worthy of a Russian museum. I have no way of knowing, but it would be cool to know if this piece was owned by Napoleon!

I’m not clear on whether the pendulum and key are original to the piece, but they were taped to the clock when I grabbed it at a local variety auction

 

Very cool!

 

If it had once belonged to Napoleon, the museum would not have deaccessioned it. The provenance would have made it much more valuable. Nice clock. Hope you can get it running.

 

Beautiful. Worth taking to the best repairperson you can find. Destined to be a fine (ticking) conversation piece.

 

I have severe doubts that this is the real thing except possibly the face. the tambour housing and the foot seem to be simple polished brass. the lyre and the col de cygne (swan necks) don't seem to be properly firegilded and the socle seems to be new.

 

Amazing!

 

Well, that certainly has me concerned

 

meant to quote in my post above

 

nice clear photo's..........thank you !!!
Nice clock too !

 

Wow,beautiful clock!

 

Lovely clock! I love the Sun King's face on the pendulum! But Bronwen, your statement is not necessarily true. A lot of museums these days are deaccessioning items that do not directly relate to their immediate region and/ or collection parameters. I deaccessioned a scalp lock warrior's shirt and other items that had a provenance with Lakota Chief Spotted Tail and the Dakota Territory. The museum I worked for interprets primarily the history of southern Oregon so it was not relevant. Museums are allowed to use the funds raised at auction to care for the collections they retain, with strict limitations.

 

I agree with Fid and do think there may be cause for concern. It does not seem to me to be of Imperial quality, particularly in the castings. It does have the look of the period. What does it have in the way of signatures?

 

The only signatures I found are on the porcelain dial

 

Given doubts about the clock's quality being expressed here, the museum probably decided the Napoleon attribution was bogus. I know museums sometimes prune their collections to raise funds. Napoleon is such a name to conjure with, I thought it might apply here, but you're probably right, Napoleon notwithstanding.

 

I’m confused about your post that the museum probably discovered the Napoleon claim was bogus. The Bronzier signed on the clock dial was Napoleons chief Bronzier for a period of about 4 years. The questions on here seem to be more pointed towards the possibility that the movement is not original to the case. That’s a hard leap to fraudulent inclusion in a museum. Perhaps I misunderstood

 

I think there has been a it of misunderstanding, but not from what you have said previously. There's a difference between being made by someone with an Imperial warrant, and being owned by Napoleon himself. You did mention the later, but only as a daydream... "it would be cool..."

You also mention that the pendulum may not be original and I do think that the casting of that part is not of the highest standard. Personally, I feel the same way about the swan necks and birds at the top of the clock, but perhaps my expectations are too stringent. It's also possible that the firm produced pieces in different price ranges.

@Fid expressed several other concerns.

Looks like you are not going to get any definitive answer here. To get a proper opinion you will need to have it appraised by someone with hands-on expertise. Being formerly in a museum doesn't hurt.

It is a handsome clock and certainly seems to be in First Empire style.

 

We got diverted by the idea that you imagined it being from Napoleon's court. Looking at OP, your only question was what to make of the pendulum & the key; you had already researched the clock. I can't figure out where on your clock the pendulum would go, but it's kind of cool by itself.

 

Well, the possibility of components being brass has me very concerned. I am not well versed in gilt bronze, and I researched the names presented on the clock face, which turned up with the details that I presented here.

what has me worried at this point was that I listed it for sale elsewhere (I’m not here to spam or try to drive traffic) and there is currently a bid. That bid occurred before I posted the OP. So the concerns expressed by members above have me worried that I may have unknowingly misrepresented the item. I posted the same photos in the listing

 

Specific details of origins aside, 19th c. French metal casting on these type of clocks was very nice, even the mid level quality examples were wonderful in casting and artistic imagination. Nice clock you've found.