According to François Vion, 19th century

Table clock "a cercle tournant" after models by FRANÇOIS VION (ca. 1737- ca. 1790). France, Napoleon III, third quarter of the 19th century.
Gilt and patinated bronze.
Sealed machinery.
It works.
Some number repainting.
Measurements: 50 x 17 x 17 cm.

This magnificent tournant clock is based on a model designed by the bronze artist François Vion. The original drawing, taken from an album of models, is preserved at the Institut national d'Histoire de l'Art in Paris (illustrated in H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Band I, Munich, 1986, p. 179, fig. 3.7.4). Other clocks following the same model were subsequently catalogued: one of them, signed Lepaute, is preserved in the Louvre Museum, a second copy, entirely in gilt bronze, went on sale at Christie's, London, on December 1, 2005, lot 187; A third one made by Louis Montjoye coming from the Pierpont Morgan collection belongs to the Huntington collection of San Marino in California (reproduced in The Huntington Art Collections: A Handbook, 1986, p.115). In his original model, Vion depicted the Three Graces or Greek Carites, goddesses associated with love, beauty, sexuality and fertility, understood as life-giving forces. Their names were Aglaya ("Beauty"), Euphrosine ("Joy") and Thalia ("Festivities"), and they were considered daughters of Zeus and Eurynome, although other versions mention Hera, Dionysus or Helios and the naiad Egle as their progenitors. The representation of the three Graces was frequent from the Renaissance onwards, both because of their hermetic character, related to the mysteries, aesthetics and Greco-Latin thought, and because of the more mundane fact that their iconography made it possible to represent three beautiful naked girls.

The history of tournant clocks dates back to the 18th century when the archaeological sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum were discovered and the fever for the classical world landed in the decorative arts. In the world of clocks, artists decided to adapt these "cercles tournants" to the "old-fashioned" vase-shaped cases. This new fashion was highly appreciated by important collectors and reached its peak during the reign of Louis XVI.