French Empire Mantel Clock With Statue Of Orpheus

Period

ca. 1810

Material

gilt and patinated bronze

Sizes

(height) 69.00cm. (width) 17.00cm. (Length) 44.00cm.

Description

The clockwork
‘Anchor’ escapement going train and striking train with lockingplate. Strikes on a chime on every hour and half hour.
White enameled dial with Roman numerals for the hours and Arabic numerals at every quarter of an hour.
Le Sieur was a master clockmaker from 1806 and worked from the Vieille Rue du Temple.

The representation
A perpendicular base in patinated bronze is carried by four legs with lions paws and acanthus. The front of the base is decorated with a bas relief plaquette in gilt bronze that represents Orpheus in the underworld. On the sides ornaments with lyre harps in laurel wreaths. The clock is set in a rectangular tomb-shaped pilar. Orpheus, a statuette in patinated bronze, leans towards this tomb. What we see is Orpheus grieving over the loss of Euridice. In his left hand a laurel wreath as it was presented to winners of musical or poetry contests in ancient Greece and on his back a lyre harp.

On this mantel clock two traditions of depicting the myth of Orpheus are combined, romantic but in a very classical design, to tell the story of enduring love. Orpheus was a legendary Thracian poet who was famous for his play on the lyre. It is said that he was able to enchant wild animals with his music. Orpheus married the tree nymph Euridice, but at the wedding she was bitten by a venomous snake and died. Orpheus descended to the underworld to retrieve her. To do so he brought the three-headed dog Cerberus, that guarded the gates of Hades, under his spell by means of his music. He even softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone, and managed to get permission to lead Euridice out of the underworld, only if he agreed not to look at her until they returned to the upper world. We see this story represented on the bas relief.
Orpheus, in fear that Euridice would not follow, broke his promise and looked over his shoulder, thus loosing Euridice forever.

Literature:
Ovidius, Metamorphosen, in de vertaling van M. D’Hane-Scheltema, Amsterdam 1997.
James Hall, Hall’s Iconografisch handboek, Onderwerpen, symbolen en motieven in de beeldende kunst, in de vertaling van Theo Veenhof, 3e gecorrigeerde druk, Leiden 1996.