The design of this clock is after a model associated with the marchand-mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier. On 8 October 1768, Poirier delivered a clock to Madame du Barry for the cost of 912 livres, of apparently the same design though inset with plaques made of porcelain instead of hardstone. It was described as:

'Une pendule à vase et serpent, en bronze doré d'or moulu, le cadre tournant, le piédestal garni de trois morceaux de porcelaine de France, fond bleu avec des enfants en miniature, le dard du serpent fait en marcassite'.

A few examples dating to the eighteenth century, many also varying in the material used for the plaques at their bases, are known. A pendule in the musée du Louvre (inv. no. OA 8937) mounted with hardstone panels overpainted with decorative scenes was purchased was purchased by the comte d'Orsay between 1770 and 1774. Another of this model, set with Sèvres porcelain plaques, is illustrated in S. Eriksen, Early Neo-Classicism in France, p. 348, pl.198. In his 1771 portrait of the Abbé Nicolas Chanlatte, Guillaume Voirot depicts a clock of this model, but with angular handles, signed Le Pautre horloger du Roi (ibid., p. 401, pl. 466; the portrait sold Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 12 June 1936, lot 115). Eighteenth-century examples sold at auction include one which belonged to Marie-Antoinette, sold from the collection of Léopold Double by Charles Pillet, Paris, 30 May-1 June 1881, lot 280; one with verde antico plaques to its base, sold from the Riahi Collection, Christie's, New York, 2 November 2000, lot 6; and one with plaques enameled with interior scenes, sold Madame Simone Steinitz: The Legacy of Taste, Christie's, Paris, 19 June 2025, lot 75.