Empire Gilt-bronze Mantel Clock “fidelity”, Circa 1810–1820

A significant mantel clock known as ‘à la Fidélité’ or ‘La jeune mère’, in chiselled bronze, gilded with both matt and glossy gold, and featuring a sheet metal panel painted in Empire green, displayed on its original blackened wooden plinth and accompanied by its glass bell. The top of the case is crowned by a large scene sculpted in the round, depicting a young woman in classical style kneeling, watching over her sleeping child in a cradle on wheels, the veil of which she is lifting. At her feet, a reclining dog symbolises Fidelity. The figure is set within a quadrangular plinth flanked by winged sphinxes in relief and cherubs blowing trumpets. The white enamel dial displays the hours in Roman numerals and the minutes in Arabic numerals, signed ‘Choufret à Paris’, and is surrounded by a knurled bezel. The plinth base resting on four spindle-shaped legs.
France. Empire–Restoration period (19th century, circa 1810–1820).
H_51.5 cm W_31.5 cm
Very good condition