French Empire mantel clock
A French Empire-style mantel clock, is a type of elaborately decorated mantel clock made in France during the Napoleonic Empire between 1804–1814/15, although the timekeepers manufactured throughout
French Empire mantel clock
A French Empire-style mantel clock, is a type of elaborately decorated mantel clock made in France during the Napoleonic Empire between 1804–1814/15, although the timekeepers manufactured throughout the Bourbon Restoration (1814/1815–1830) are also included within this art movement since they share subject, decorative elements, shapes and style.
Already by the end of the 18th century, from the mid-1770s on, the French clocks participated of a new art movement; the Neoclassicism. The predominant style in architecture, painting, sculpture, and the decorative arts, that had come into its own during the last years of Louis XV's life, chiefly as a reaction to the excesses of the Rococo but partly through the popularity of the excavations at ancient Herculaneum and Pompeii, in Italy.
The timekeepers manufactured both over the Louis XVI and the French First Republic historical periods incorporated this new artistic language with classical designs, allegories and motifs. In the case of the Louis XVI pieces, stone (usually white marble, alabaster or biscuit) was combined with gilded and/or patinated bronze, although certain cases were completely cast in bronze. Some models were architectural (i.e., with no figures) while others displayed classical-style figurines.
During the 1790s, the production of gilded-bronze considerably increased as working conditions became easier. The freedom of trade initiated by the French Revolution allowed many casters, who during the ancien régime worked in workshops strictly limited to making bronze, to develop large factories. They took advantage of this opportunity to execute all stages of bronze making within one factory and drew, cast, gilded, assembled and sold objects of their own workshops. Artisans still benefited from pre-Revolution training and worked according to the standards of a luxury art from the ancien régime, but they had better means of production and organization.
Materials and techniques
The use of gilded bronze to make luxury goods reached its peak at the beginning of the 19th century in France. This medium was not new, as it had enjoyed international reputation in Europe since the reign of Louis XIV that continued during the entire ancien régime. One reason for this success is the technical qualities inherent in bronze. Cheaper than gold and silver, it is a common material easy both to mold and ennoble by gilding with mercury. For this reason, it became the favorite material for clock cases, candelabra and furniture ornaments. Thanks to the skill of remarkable bronze casters and chasers these objects were not merely timekeepers, but became objets d'art.
This golden age ended about 1830, when the generation of craftsmen and laborers died out, cheaper metals started to be more increasingly used (e.g. brass) and bronze casting entered into a higher mechanization, sacrifying craftsmanship in furtherance of productivity and reduction in costs and manufacturing time.
In the Empire style timepieces, bronze was the main material used and both the patinated and specially ormolu techniques were extensively used, reaching its zenith during this age. Indeed, the fine modeling, gilt and patina finishes used in these series-produced pendulum clocks are matchless. Most cases were totally cast in bronze and others combined with a stone base made of marble, alabaster or porphyry. However, wood (mahogany or fruit wood) and carved crystal (the latter used during the Restoration) were (less frequently) employed too.
During this period there were between 40 and 60 workshops with founders, gilders, silverers, and chasers in Paris. The founders usually made a wax model from a draft and from this wax model a negative plaster cast was made, which could be reproduced more often. Then using this plaster cast a mould was made, in which the bronze was cast. By combining figures and mountings several versions of one design were produced.
Due to exposure to the harmful mercury fumes caused during the "dorure au mercure" (fire-gilding) process, unfortunately most gilders did not survive beyond 40 years of age as a consequence of mercury poisoning. Even in those days, they took all kind of precautions, in particular chewing bread, better companies gave them a piece of leather to be placed over the tongue then a silver coin on it and at the end of the day the coin had "turned" to gold, there was also a kind of mask devised to inhale the air from behind the head, but none of these measures were in any way sufficient.
This provoked that the use of this hazardous chemical element was outlawed by the French legislation after around 1830, although continued to be commonly employed until circa 1900 and even was still in use around 1960 in very few workshops. To replace ormolu, other gilding techniques (like electroplating from the mid-19th century on) were utilized instead, but nothing surpasses the original mercury-firing me