Gilt Bronze Clock From The Restoration Period, Louis XIV Bourbon King Of France

A Restoration period gilt bronze clock depicting Louis XIV as a Roman emperor. The mechanism is signed Segault in Paris. This figurative clock represents Louis XIV holding a baton of command. He is dressed in antique attire, reminiscent of the sculpture by Jean Varin commissioned by the Sun King for the Grand Apartments of the Palace of Versailles between 1665 and 1670. The base is decorated with an applied laurel wreath, the king's monogram, and the Order of Saint Louis, founded by Louis XIV in 1693. The clock marks the return of the Bourbons to the throne of France after the abdication of Napoleon I. Louis XVIII reinstated the Order of Saint Louis on September 28, 1814. Around 1820, historicism influenced the aesthetics of decorative clocks, revisiting subjects borrowed from French history, such as clocks glorifying Henry IV. Original mechanism to be overhauled, suspension modified. Literature: Pierre Kjellberg, The Encyclopedia of French Clocks, pp. 427-428; Tardy, Dictionary of Clockmakers, p. 591