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Mantel clock (pendule à console)

Clockmaker: probably Jean-Philippe Gosselin French
Case maker: Jean-Joseph de Saint Germain French
ca. 1750
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 529
Ornamental bronzes—which are easily cast from molds and made to simulate solid gold or, occasionally, solid silver by the application of thin layers of precious metals—were ubiquitous in the décor and furnishings of an eighteenth-century French palace, townhouse, or château. This clock, signed by one of the most admired bronze founder-chasers, Jean-Joseph de Saint Germain, has lost all of its original gilding but preserves the undulating scrolls interspersed with floral motifs that are characteristic of French rococo design at its liveliest.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Mantel clock (pendule à console)
  • Maker: Clockmaker: probably Jean-Philippe Gosselin (French, recorded as master in Paris 1717, died 1766)
  • Maker: Case maker: Jean-Joseph de Saint Germain (French, 1719–1791)
  • Date: ca. 1750
  • Culture: French, Paris
  • Medium: Case: bronze, formerly gilded, silvered or lacquered; dial: white enamel, with black numerals; movement: brass and steel
  • Dimensions: Overall: 16 × 12 in. (40.6 × 30.5 cm)
  • Classification: Horology
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Ogden Mills, 1929
  • Object Number: 37.160.9
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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Wall clock (pendule en cartel), Jean Godde l'aîné French, Case: gilded bronze, oak, and tortoiseshell on brass marquetry on oak; Dial: white enamel and gilded brass with blued-steel hands; Movement: brass and steel, French, Paris
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Mantel clock (pendule de cheminée), Julien Le Roy French, Case: gilded and patinated bronze on a base of oak veneered with ebony with gilded-bronze mounts; Dial: white enamel with black numerals; Movement: brass and steel, French, Paris
Mantel clock (pendule de cheminée)
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