A Parisian ormolu pendulum clock "A cercles tournants"
Horizontal Parisian lever movement with half-hourly striking to a gong, 14-day running with thread suspension. Designed as a fluted column hung with floral swags supporting a blue enamelled globe. Ring-shaped dial with Roman hours and Arabic minutes, crowned by a seated Genius holding an arrow as the clock hand. Three winding holes beneath the garland. Movement signed ROQUE PARIS and numbered "N858", the bronzes signed OSMOND (i.e. Robert Osmond, 1749 - 89). H 42; W 16 cm.
Ca. 1780/85.
The motif of a genius enthroned upon a globe holding an arrow to show the time on the moving ring dials was first used by Lepaute uand Vion for their famous "Les Trois Grâces" clock made for Fontainebleau in 1769. Lepaute signed various other versions of this clock, one of which was owned by Mme Du Barry (now in the Louvre). The three-dimensional genius motif was so popular that it was taken up by other bronze casters, either as an exact copy or in inspired variations, such as the present work in which the youth is shown seated on a column base.
Literature
Cf. similar pendulum clocks by Osmond with identical columns illus. in: Ottomeyer/Pröschel 1986, vol. I, illus. 3.12.1 ff. Cf. also: de L'Espée, Die Osmond, ein Familienbetrieb und seine Produktion, ibid., vol. II, p. 539 ff.