Moorish style porcelain mounted ormolu mantel clock

This charming mantel clock is wrought from ormolu (gilt bronze) and porcelain in a distinctly Moorish style. The ormolu throughout is finely cast with Orientalising motifs—the geometrical flower-studded trellis motif that adorns the front of the four uprights, for instance. Most charmingly, the porcelain mounts—inset to the front of the base, the dial, the pendulum, and the three domes that surmount the clock—are painted to mimic champlevé enamel, the blues and oranges and parcel gilding of the porcelain beautifully complementing the glistening ormolu.

The clock stands on a flat ormolu base, from which rise four shaped uprights: the drum is supported by the central pair, between which hangs the beautiful pendulum. The ormolu throughout is intricately finished, as are the painted porcelain mounts. The dial, of porcelain imitative of champlevé enamel, is inscribed with Roman numeral hour marks.

The clock, produced in France in the late 19th Century, was created for the Turkish market.