Napoleon III Clock In Gilt Bronze Signed Benoît Félix Richond In Paris

Magnificent Napoleon III clock in finely chiseled gilt bronze with a lush decoration inspired by Louis XVI.
Enamelled dial signed Richond, Japy Frères movement in Paris.

Superb original gilding.

Benoît Félix Richond, born November 12, 1795 in Puy-en-Velay, and died April 6, 1873 in Saint Vincent, was a French watchmaker and jeweler.

He is the son of Claude Francois Benoît Richond, deputy to the Council of Five Hundred, and grandson of Benoît-Régis Richond, deputy to the States General of 1789. He made a career as a watchmaker in Paris and died in Viaye of Saint Vincent.

His production was noticed in his time because it appears in guides in English such as How to enjoy Paris in 1842 where two pages are devoted to him or is quoted in the preface to the complete poems of the romantic poet Théodore de Banville in 1909: "on the fireplace , a real Richond clock". For his contemporaries, a Richond clock was an object of desire: evidenced by its mention in 1860 in Eugène Grangé's operetta: La Pénélope à la mode de Caen4, in Paul Siraudin's vaudeville: Désir de fiancée. Source Wikipedia

Very good condition, the movement works, ringtone to be adjusted.

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