A fine Louis XVI ormolu Mantel Clock

The clock rests on a white marble base with indented corners mounted with ormolu laurels interlacings frieze. The glazed ormolu cage enclosing the movement is raised on an ormoulu plinth with a frieze decorated with a relief of putti. The dial is surmounted by a ribbon and has laurel and tassels underneath. The top engraved with a star and laurel branches, above a strong cornice.

Signed Renacle-Nicolas Sotiau (1749-1791), maître horloger in 1782

A clock of the related model suplied by Sotiau for Louis XVI’s Cabinet du Conseil at the Château de Saint Cloud is now in the Petit Trianon at Versailles, and a very similar one is at the Getty Museum in los Angeles