A Louis XVI marble and ormolu pendule au cercles tournants Le Roy à Paris, circa 1780.

A Louis XVI marble and ormolu "pendule au cercles tournants", Le Roy à Paris, circa 1780.
Original 18th century mantel clock with “cercles tournants” or rotating circular chapter rings.
The two revolving chapter rings consist of enamel plaques. The Arabic numerals displaying the minutes and
the Roman numerals the hours. These ‘cercles tournants’ turn across a fixed pointer. The hand is decorated
shining precious stones.
The architecture of this marble and ormolu mantel clock can be seen as a symbolic creation of a 'Temple
d'amour'
Four bronze-gilded upright pillars stand resting on the white marble base, which forms the basis for the
construction of the clock. The plinth is decorated with gilded rosettes.
In the centre of these pillars is a sculpture of a pair turtle doves, symbolizing love.
On top of the clock-mechanism is a decoration with ormolu bronze work, consisting of a basket with
garlands of flowers and foliage.
The term 'ormolu' derives form 'or moulu', meaning 'gold ground'. Powdered gold was mixed with mercury
and used to gild bronze in the 18th century (banned in the 19th century on account of its toxicity).
The visible movement is driven by two spring barrels and has a duration eight days. The movement has an
anchor escapement in combination with a silk suspended pendulum lens with medusa-mask sunburst.The
clock strikes the full and halve hours by means of a count wheel on a bell.
This impressive sculptural clock is an extremely fine example of the combined arts of Parisian bronziers and
clockmakers during the reign of Louis XVI. During this period of Neo-Classicism artists and artisans alike
used the art of the Greeks and Romans antiques as source of inspiration.
HxWxD 41x20x12,5 cm.
SOLD--
Literature:
- Dictionnaire des horlogers Français de Tardy.
Prominent and with prestige was Pierre III Le Roy à Paris in the XVI (1774-1792) period.
- Elke Niehüser, Die französische Bronzeuhr.