"ERATO", Empire-period Mantle Clock, after Thomire

Enamel dial with Roman numerals for the hours and Arabic numerals for the quarters, signed Manière à Paris. Finely cut and gilded brass Fleuron-style hands, ormolu bezel with domed glass, opening vertically.
Carrara red marble base with applied ormolu motifs, on ormolu rectangular feet.
Movement with recoil anchor escapement and silk suspension, countwheel strike on a silvered bell, Autonomy 2 weeks.
Height 25” (64cm), Width 15” (38cm), Depth 7 ½” (19cm)

In Greek mythology, Erato was one of the nine Muses, the goddesses of music, song and dance. She was the daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Her name means "the lovely" or "beloved" from the Greek word eratos. In Classical times, when the Muses were assigned specific artistic spheres, she was named Muse of erotic poetry and mimic imitation and represented holding a lyre.
She is represented here with a patinated bronze statue, dressed in an ample tunic. The lyre is the actual case of the clock, an a ormolu pedestal decorated with a antiquity-styled male profile and palm leaves motifs.

Hans Ottomeyer writes : Erato is a creation of the famous French sculptor and bronzier Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751-1843).
This allegorical model, personified by a Muse whose poetry seems to want to make us forget the passing time, was very popular in Napoleonic times.
This model was sometimes named Sapho or Terpsichore, and it was interpreted with various choices of materials or ornamental details. To this day, only four other models by Pierre-Philippe Thomire are known ; three of them are in European museums and one is in a private collection.