With its cresting decorated with a bearded Chinese male holding an umbrella, this elegant cartel clock is a product of the fantastical rococo fashion for Chinoiserie at its peak. It relates to the cartel clock depicted on the miniature by Olof Fridsberg depicting the interior of the home of countess Ulla Tessin, which is illustrated in A. Gruber et. al., L'Art Décoratif en Europe, Classique et Baroque, Paris, 1992, p.308.
It also relates to the drawings and paintings of François Boucher (1703-1770), whose engravings from the Recueil de diverses figures chinoises which were widely disseminated during the 1740's and 1750's. Several related models were produced circa 1745, including a cartel clock illustrated in H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel, et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. I, p.119. A cartel clock with near identical case, but with movement by Jean-Baptiste Colin De La Gliziere, was sold Christie's, London, July 2006, lor 79 (£14,400).