Cut glass and ormolu Restauration period lyre shaped clock
£32,000
This period mantel clock, crafted from superbly cut crystal and ormolu, takes the form of a classical lyre, with a portrait of the lyre-playing god Apollo as a surmount.
This beautiful Restauration period mantel clock, formed from ormolu and cut crystal, takes the distinctive shape of a lyre. The lyre-form clock body, which is crafted from cut crystal, is supported by a rectangular ormolu base above four scrolled foliate feet. The tiered lower section of the crystal body is diamond faceted and mounted with ormolu acanthus leaf friezes. Between the twin arms of the lyre sits the clock drum, the metallic dial encompassed by a circular ormolu frame.
The twin cut glass lyre arms culminate in swan-neck ormolu mounts, between which is suspended the mock lyre strings. The clock is surmounted by an elaborate finial composed of a circular cut crystal medallion of Apollo in profile, the medallion itself framed in ormolu and mounted above with an ormolu eagle-and-wreath surmount.
The medallion is signed to the reverse ‘Desprez / Rue des Récolets / Paris’, for Barthélemy Desprez, a maker active in Paris between 1812 to 1825.