Louis XVI portico clock. France, c. 1785

Louis XVI portico clock. France, c. 1785
Mercury gilt bronze, patinated bronze and white marble. Hand-painted porcelain dial, enameled.
With pendulum suspension on silk thread.
Signed "Gondret à Carcassonne".
Preserves pendulum and key
It presents faults in the bronze applications and some wear and tear.
Measurements: 61 x 42 x 12 cm.

Table clock with white marble structure following an architectural scheme, and applied gilded bronze decorations. The piece is structured as a classic style façade, inspired by the baroque both for its mixtilinear plan and for the profusion of decorative elements, subordinated to the structural lines, without hiding the lines that define the piece. The façade is composed of a base composed of a single step, raised on low bronze feet, with projections that correspond to the columns and pillars of the main body. This base is topped with the typical ornamental repertoire of the Louis XVI language, and is adorned with delicately chiseled rosettes in relief, and a central plate as a frieze in relief starring putti. The facade has two columns like Egyptian caryatids, already mentioned, supported on two central pillars. Between the two front pillars there is a pendulum in the form of a radiused medallion decorated in the lower center with a classical mask. The upper zone is ornamented with two sphinxes flanking the clock and in the upper zone a gilded bronze eagle spreading its wings.