Mantel clock
Category
Horology
Date
circa 1830
Materials
Ormolu, steel, glass and enamel
Measurements
490 x 420 x 200 mm
Place of origin
France
Order this imageCollection
Attingham Park, Shropshire
NT 608406
Summary
8-day French mantel clock, circa 1830. Ormolu case with two putti blowing glass bubbles, on rectangular base with applied ormolu decoration and mouldings. Elaborate dial frame with separate enamel chapters inset. Blue steel Breguet hands. Inscribed 'Un souffle la fait nuitre, un souffle la detruit. Ainsi dans nos plaisirs l'heure apparait et fuit' (translated as 'A breath of air caused it, and a breath destroyed it. Even thus in our pleasures time appears and vanishes'.
Provenance
Attingham collection; bequeathed to the National Trust with the estate, house and contents of Attingham by Thomas Henry Noel-Hill, 8th Baron Berwick (1877-1947) on 15th May 1953.
Marks and inscriptions
Un souffle la fait nuitre, un souffle la detruit. Ainsi dans nos plausirs l'heure apparait et fuit (See notes for translation)