Monumental French Empire Bronze & Ormolu Statue Clock
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An Important Late Empire Ormolu or gilt bronze and patinated bronze near life size clock case. French, circa:
1815-1819. Measuring: Almost 5.5 feet tall (65" high). Weight: 125 Pounds.
This Large and Important bronze clock case is one of a few known to exist. The Present case is based on the original
drawings and designs by Claude Galle (1759-1815) and Made by his son Gerard-Jean Galle (1788-1846).
The bronze clock case is depicted here held aloft by a neoclassical draped figure of Flora and surmounted by an
eagle. The original design and drawing by the father as shown in later photos listed below, show the original basic
design without the added crested eagle on top. A further added circular plinth was added during the late 19th century by
another owner and felt the wood polychromed base decorated with Superb Porphyry added to the proportion and
design. I fully agree with this. However the circular wood plinth may be removed at any time should one choose to
have the clock only look like the original design prior to the added column plinth.
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Literature:
Claude Galle (1759-1815)
Claude Galle began work in the foundry of his father-in-law, Pierre Foy. He became an important bronze caster and gilder at the end of the 1700s. By 1784 Galle had become extremely successful, producing mounts for furniture, clocks, and other objects in gilt bronze for the palaces of Fontainebleau, Versailles, Saint-Cloud, and Compiegne. He became master of the guild in 1786 and immediately received royal commissions for the gilding of bronze. In the late 1790s, Galle became official purveyor to the Garde Meuble and supplied numerous gilt bronzes for Napoleon Bonaparte's at Chateau St. Cloud. No other bronzier in Paris surpassed the number of royal commissions he had. After the French Revolution, Galle continued to produce numerous pieces for Napoleon Bonaparte, receiving an order worth more than 65,000 francs for the Chateau of Saint-Cloud. Later Claude Galle's son Gerard-Jean Galle joined his father in his workshop. In the early 19th century, he participated in the refurnishing of all royal palaces, including Napoleon's residences in Italy during his period there. At this time, his firm was one of the largest in Paris, with 400 workers. The decline of his business began with Napoleon's continental blockade of 1806 and progressed in step with Napoleon's demise and ended 1812 in bankruptcy.
The inventory taken on the 1st of April 1815 of the contents of Claude Galle's shop and workshop after his death
included UN Mouvement mecanique pour le pendule flore. After his death Claude Galle's business was taken over
by his son , Gerard-Jean, at 9 rue Colbert in 1815. He exhibited a pendule flore in the 1819 Musee Industriel
exhibition in Paris, along with several other objects which were after designs created by his father, including a clock
with a figure of friendship (cacheuse d'heures) for which the catalog noted Galle pere had won a prize in 1806. The
Flora clock was engraved by J.V. de Moleon in his inclusivement, Paris, 1824, fig. 29, pp. 709 - 712. Galle offered
the clock either entirely gilded (4000 with special reduction to 3500) or partially gilded (2000).
This Flora clock was made in a smaller version and this clock appears to be one of only a few examples so far
known in the large size of the 1819 exhibition. It is not certain whether Claude galle ever made the clock in the large
scale-certainly Gerard-Jean Galle(his son) Seems to have favored outsized objects which was one the reasons why
he had difficulty selling to the Garde Meuble until he was invited to become Fournisseur de Sa Majeste in 1825 and
he may well have created the large scale version especially for the 1819 exhibition.
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