Clock "Psyche"
Applied Arts
Inventory number
2020.10.21.1.AA.DC.C1820.FRAuthor:
Thoinet (French, active 19 century)Description
Bronze clock, called a mantel clock, composed of a rectangular pedestal ornamented with a quivers decoration surrounded by vegetation. The top of the clock represents Psyche with a butterfly on her left shoulder (allegory of her lover Cupid) leaning on a rock where the clock face is embellished in guilloché.The Neoclassicism style, which continued under the Empire period and the early French Restoration, still provided to watchmakers the inspirational subjects such as scenes and characters drawn from mythology or ancient history. Among the most common scenes, Venus and Eros, or Apollo and Diana the huntress, most often copied from ancient Greco-Roman illustration, but also Orpheus, Mercury, Adonis, Chronos ... alone or by couple. One of the most used figures was Psyche: crowning Eros, god of love, or in the company of Cupid, but also simply by herself playing the harp or the tambourine.
Materials
BronzeSteel
Origin
circa 1820 Le Havre, FranceDimensions
Width : 11 cmLength : 31 cm
Height : 47 cm