The drum case surmounted by the figure of a Bacchante and supported on a grape festooned palanquin by two goat-riding cherubs, the bow-ended marble plinth inset with a gilt plaque of Bacchic putti with a lion and a faun, the whole on toupie feet, the 5¼-inch white enamel dial with Roman hours and outer calendar ring, gilt trellis hands and calendar hand, the twin barrel movement with later brocot suspension, outside countwheel and strike on bell
18¹⁄₂ in. (47 cm.) high; 14¹⁄₂ in. (37 cm.) wide; 4³⁄₄ in. (12 cm.) deep

The Viscounts Wimborne,
thence by descent.

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
H. Ottomeyer & P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, Vol.I, p.280, fig.4.13.1
G. Wannenes, Le Più Belle Pendole Francesi - Da Luigi XIV all'Impero, Milan, 1991, p.89
Pierre Kjellberg, Encyclopédie de la Pendule Française, Paris, 1997, p.242, fig.B

For further information on the collection of the Viscounts Wimborne please visit the tab ‘The Wimborne Collection’ on the main sale page.

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Lot Essay

This clock, after a model introduced in Paris in the 1780s, celebrates Love's triumph by evoking the 'Feast of Bacchus' with a reclining nymph raising a wine-tazza, on a vine-festooned palanquin borne by Cupid-driven and grape-eating bacchic goats. Other versions of this model are illustrated in H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol.I, p.280, fig.4.13.1; and G. Wannenes, Le Pi Belle Pendole Francesi - Da Luigi XIV all'Impero, Milan, 1991, p. 89.

Related clocks were sold Christie's, London, 12 June 2003, lot 1072 and The P. C. Spaans Collection of Important Clocks, Christie's, Amsterdam, 19 December 2007, lot 471, (also with the unusual Roman and Arabic hour combination).