A large Parisian Empire ormolu clock “Genius inspired by Minerva”
Ormolu and burnished bronze clock with a glazed white enamel dial with blued steel hands, rouge de roi marble base. 14-day running movement with half-hourly striking on a gong. Depicting a winged male figure standing beside a bust of the goddess Minerva. The upper angles of the base accentuated by lion mascarons, the space below the dial with an owl on a branch, and the two outer faces with winged lances. Signed on the dial “à Paris”. H 74.5, W 56, D 22 cm.
C. 1810, the bronze attributed to Claude François Rabiat.
One can only assume that this immense allegorical pendulum clock was made for a royal or princely commission. It displays stylistic parallels to the sculptural clocks of Pierre-Philippe Thomire, which can be attributed on the basis of his signed preliminary sketches. Thomire's late Empire designs are also often characterized by large, separately cast sculptural figures placed in Classical poses beside the clock cases. The design of the figural elements in this clock already speaks for an origin in the late phase of Neoclassicism, which was already imbued with a certain Romantic spirit: The flame of inspiration arises from the head of the genius, depicted as a winged young man, as he sketches the bust of Minerva. Claude François Rabiat (1756 – 1815) began his studies under Etienne Vignerelle in 1769. He acquired his master's title as "gilder of metals" in March 1778. He was running a large workshop on rue Beaubourg by the age of 41, catering exclusively to merchants such as André Coquille and Thémet, watchmakers such as Bailly, Mallet, Lépine and Lesieur, and even bronze makers such as Thomire, Feuchère and Claude Galle. He also worked for the imperial furniture depot. After his death, his three sons continued the running of the family workshop under the company name "Rabiat frères" until they each decided to pursue their activity independently as of 1819.
Provenance
Parisian collection.
Private collection, Potsdam.
Literature
Cf. Ottomeyer/Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, vol. I, Munich 1986, illus. 5.5.7. ff.
Cf. Kjellberg, Encyclopédie de la pendule française du Moyen Age au XXe siècle, Paris 1997, p. 410.