Lot 476
FRENCH EMPIRE GILT BRONZE FIGURAL MANTEL CLOCK, HENRY LARESCHE, PARIS
EARLY 19TH CENTURY
Auction: Day Two | Thurs 13th Nov at 10am | Lots 339 to 600
Description
the white enamel dial with Roman numerals, signed ‘H. Laresche á Paris’, the case surmounted by the mythological figure of the Lydian Queen Omphale, sitting astride on a drum draped with the Nemean Lion's fleece at her feet on one side, on the other she holds Hercules' club, supported on a rounded rectangular gilt bronze base set with Neoclassical frieze and roundels, the centre frieze depicts the male female role reversal central to the mythological story, with Hercules holding a spindle and Omphale sitting on the fleece and holding the club Hercules used to kill the lion, set on six toupie feet, the twin train movement with outside countwheel striking on a bell
Dimensions
52cm high
Provenance
Property of a Belgravia residence
Footnote
Henry Laresche was active as a clockmaker and watchmaker circa 1805-1827. Dictionnaire des horlogers français, Tardy, p.350, lists this maker as working from Palais Royal, Galerie des Offices, from 1814 to 1815.