L'Amérique

L'Amérique A Directoire patinated and gilt bronze allegorical mantel clock with figure personifying America, seated female figure wearing feather dress with enamel eyes, accompanied by a caiman crocodile, carrying a bow, quiver of arrows and spear, on shaped oval base with frieze of festoons, raised on toupee feet, white enamel dial. France, c. 1800–1815. H. 48 cm. W. 37 cm. D. 15.5 cm. Literature: Tardy II, Pendules Francaises, p. 246. Elke Niehüser, French Bronze clocks, p. 147–149 and no. 808, p. 235. H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich 1986, vol I, p. 381, fig. 5.15.28 After a design dated 1799 by Jean-Simon Deverberie (1784–1824) which is preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. This clock and others with similar themes appeared at the end of the 18th century in response to the appeal of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's idealized “homme naturel” as portrayed in popular literature.