Mantel clock with Potocki coat of arms

A mantel clock with the Pilawa Potocki coat of arms incorporated into the gilded decoration of the case. It was probably purchased by August Potocki in Paris before 1853. The mechanism is hidden inside a cube-shaped case made of black marble. The minute and hour hands and the brass hands are mounted directly on the polished surface of the front. The mechanism has a spring-loaded drive, a hooked pendulum and a short, lightweight pendulum on a threaded pendant. The mechanism is separately driven by a Parisian type ratchet wheel on a single bell. There is also a pinwheel regulator.

Fanciful, asymmetric gilt bronzes with rococo motifs embrace the base of the body of the case with its scrolls acting as the feet. The upper edge is embraced by a carved cornice with clamshells, strongly accented corners and the Potocki family coat of arms in the façade part. The case is crowned with a patinated bronze figural group depicting Bacchus as a child wearing a grapevine wreath and holding a goblet in his hand, sitting on a goat and playing with two putti.

The clock represents the highest artistic and technical level; not only the clockmaker but also the bronze worker and the maker of the marble case have put their signatures on it.

AK