This grand Empire period mantel clock has been crafted from gilt and patinated bronze. The clock stands on a rectangular gilt base, set on four gilt and patinated paw feet. The top edge of the base is decorated with a gilt leaf-and-dart band. Its patinated body is shaped like a triumphal arch, with two pier-like supports topped by an entablature. The supports are finely decorated with gilt relief panels, depicting collections of gardening tools and pairs of nude women dancing around pinecone-tipped staffs topped by cupid figures.
Between the two supports, there is a circular white enamel dial with black Roman Numerals and the maker’s name, ‘Deverberie Et C.gnie/ a Paris’. The dial is set within a gilt bezel which is surmounted by a lion’s mask and two crossed laurel branches. A pendulum, with a circular gilt end, hangs in the space below the dial. The frieze of the clock body is mounted with a gilt relief panel depicting putti figures dancing and playing musical instruments. Gilt brackets and a leaf-and-dart band decorate the clock’s cornice.
Jean-Simon Deverberie was an important designer and bronze manufacturer who was active in the late 18th and early 19th Century in France. This mantel clock was created c.1805 in the period when Napoleon I was Emperor of France (1804-14, 15).