Louis XV style small ormolu table clock after Caffiéri

The ormolu (gilt bronze) clock features an elongated rectangular body which stands on four cabriole legs, set on hoof feet. The clock’s legs and body are covered with scrolled acanthus leaves, foliage swags and stylised floral motifs, and a cartouche decorates the space between the legs. The top of the clock’s body is mounted with a circular white enamel dial with black Roman Numerals and Arabic Numbers. The dial is set behind a glass lens with a foliate bezel, within a cartouche-shaped frame. The clock is crowned by a finial in the shape of a flower basket.

In its design, this clock is modelled on a magnificent 18^th-Century clock, which was created collaboratively by the engineer Claude-Siméon Passemant, the clockmaker Louis Dauthiau, the sculptor Jean-Jacques Caffiéri and bronze-founder Phillipe Caffiéri. Known as the ‘Passemant astronomical clock’, the original model was presented to King Louis XV in the 1750s. Today, it can be viewed in the petit appartement du roi in the Palace of Versailles, France.