ARNOUX CLOCK, Mantel Clock, Portico.

White and black marble, gilded bronze; glass; height 55 cm, width 36 cm, depth 11 cm.
France, Paris, Rue des Gravilliers, 18th/19th century.
White marble base, rectangular, with faults, on 4 spherical bronze legs; appliqué on front with motif of acanthus leaves coiled in volutes; pearl band on edge. Higher up, a portico with a pair of black marble columns entwined with laurel. Behind them in the depths flat pilasters of white marble with volute tracery decorated with bronze overlays in the form of floral threads and full-plastic vases with bouquets of flowers. Between the columns of the portico hung a cylindrical box with a clock mechanism bearing the Parisian system of beating the hours and half-hours; on the front a white enameled dial - shielded by lenticular glass - with Arabic numerals and an inscription at the bottom: "Arnoux a Paris". Under the dial, crossed bronze laurel branches tied with a ribbon and a pendulum with a lens in the form of a solar mask. In the finial a pedestal of black marble, and on it a figure of an eagle with outspread wings. Bronze rose garlands flowing down from the pedestal connect the finial with the clock case. On the sides - pinnacles in the form of flower-filled
vases: two pairs - of black and white marble.
As a curiosity it should be mentioned that many years ago at an auction in Belgium appeared almost identical clock to the one presented today, only that it differed in some small details of decoration, but most importantly, on the dial with Roman numerals was the name of a different clockmaker: "Rouviere a Paris" It functioned at the same time as Arnoux, but in Rue de Rohan.