Bronzier Henri Picard and clockmakers Raingo Freres were among the most popular designers of luxury timepieces in Paris in the mid-19th Century. Together they collaborated on a range of exquisite bronze clocks and clock garnitures.
This fantastic ormolu (gilt-bronze) clock set is a complex, intricate work of bronze making, elaborately decorated with intricate Neoclassical style motifs. The set comprises a central clock with a pair of flanking candelabra. The white enamel clock dial sits in the centre of the case, bearing the signature for 'Raingo Freres / Paris', and is set with Roman numerals. The clock case is decorated with foliate motifs, scrolls, ribbons, and laurel garlands, and is surmounted by a large urn. The urn is stamped 'H. Picard'.
The pair of flanking candelabra are decorated in a similarly elaborate fashion: each has seven lights that emerge from scrolling branches, which rest on a baluster-form urn on a central support, surrounded by three further scrolling supports, on a tri-form plinth base. The dimensions of the individual pieces are as follows: