Clock (pendule à console)

Movement by Louis Mÿnüel French
Case attributed to Charles Cressent French

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 551

French cabinetmaker Charles Cressent broke Paris guild restrictions by making his own bronze fittings for furniture and clocks instead of going to bronze founders. Among the bronzes seized from his workshop in 1723 were figures of Leda and the Swan to be “placed below the dial” and a sphinx to be “used at the foot of a clock.” These decorative mounts are similar to those on this clock case, which also features a bronze Cupid holding a scythe, symbolizing Love conquering Time.

Clock (pendule à console), Movement by Louis Mÿnüel (French, about 1675/80–1742), Case: oak veneered with brass and tortoiseshell with gilded-bronze mounts; Dial: gilded brass and enamel, French, Paris

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