French clock Georges Emile Henri Servant, ca. 1870

GEORGES EMILE HENRI SERVANT (1828-1890).
French table clock, ca. 1870.
"Soldiers playing dice."
Calamine, with gilt details.
Signed.
Paris engine with chiming of the half hours and hours.
Enamel dial.
It has key.
In brand condition.
Interior signatures and stamps.
Measurements: 50 x 65 x 23 cm.

French clock signed by Georges Emile Henri Servant. It houses a sculptural group in which two soldiers are represented playing dice on a military drum. They wear Renaissance attire that has been described with care: leggings, breastplates, scaled garments, gaiters.... The nobility of their stylized oval faces also stands out. One of them has taken off his helmet, which rests on a meadow. The sculptural group rests on a pedestal decorated with foliate motifs and emblems, showing in its center the dial of the clock, in white enamel and with Roman numerals.

Georges Emile Henri Servant, who replaced his father in 1855 at his foundry on rue Vieille-du-Temple in Paris, specialized in the manufacture of neo-Egyptian style clocks, very popular in France since the 1860s, and also in the manufacture of Greek style decorative objects. It attracted much attention for the high quality of its bronzes at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1855 and then at the London Exhibition of 1862. At this time, Servant exported up to 40% of its production, mainly to the United States. But his real success came at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1867, where he was awarded a gold medal for his neo-Greek works. Servant was even awarded in 1874 the "Ordre national de la Légion d'Honneur", France's highest official distinction. Servant again participated successfully in the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1878, where he not only exhibited vases and small bronze furniture, but was also a member of the jury for the class of bronze works of art. He finally retired shortly before the 1889 Exposition Universelle de Paris.