Louis XVI clock in white marble, bronze and Wedgwood plaques, 18th ce

Lovely Louis XVI portico clock in white marble adorned with rich finely chiseled gilt bronze ornamentation and Wedgwood porcelain plaques,
The dial underlined by a row of pearls is in white enamel and is embellished with finely chiselled and braided hands which indicate the hours in Arabic numerals. It is adorned at its base with an elegant garland combining foliage, flowers and musical instruments and suspends a pendulum ''The Sun King''.
The architecture has square columns resting on a base with two lions' claws. They are flanked by beautiful ornamentation in gilded bronze – knots, ribbons, quivers, beads, urns, rosettes.
Four Wedgwood porcelain plates adorn this refined decor with ''antique'' scenes: in the upper medallions a charming representation of Venus and Cupid, while the lower diamonds certainly illustrate the allegory of the Goddess Flora.
At the amortization, a white marble cup, with two handles decorated with a vegetal frieze and a row of pearls, receives a rooster with outstretched wings, heralding the awakening of the new day.
The stepped plinth presents a vegetal decoration combining foliage and bunches of grapes, daisy rosettes and rows of pearls. It rests on six spinning top feet.
The wire movement has been completely overhauled. It strikes the hours and half-hours. The bronzes have simply been cleaned to restore all their original shine.

Dimensions
W. 35.5 cm x D. 10.5 cm x H. 50 cm

Paris
18th century

The earthenware, porcelain and pottery factory Josiah Wedgwood and Sons – better known as Wedgwood – was founded in England in 1759 by Josiah Wedgwood (1730 – 1795) and his son Thomas Wedgwood.
Famous throughout the world, Wedgwood porcelain is one of the jewels of English industrial craftsmanship. The factory established itself as the equivalent of Sèvres porcelain in France.
In a different spirit, it aims for the same refinement. That of luxury, art and taste.
Around 1769, the ceramist Wedgwood developed and was to develop in France a semi-porcelain called Wedgwood jasper. This dense and hard-paste ceramic is tinted with blue, yellow or green metallic oxides serving as a background and then decorated with white bas-reliefs in the classic style.
This craze for antiquity dates from this period of the West's passion for new archaeological discoveries from Greek and Roman antiquity.