CLOCK AND CANDELABRA GARNITURE. BRONZE, MARBLE. RAINGO FRÈRES, AARIA, CLODION. PARIS, FRANCE, SECOND HALF 19TH CENTURY.

Clock and candelabra trim. Blued and gilded bronze, marble. Raingo Frères, Aaria, Clodion. Paris, France, second half of the 19th century. In operation. A garnish consisting of a table clock and two three-light candelabras each, made of bronze and white marble. The candelabras have legs and a circular base with a gilt bronze band with floral elements, and a child figure in burnished bronze with garlands of vines and grapes on its head, holding branches with roses and leaves, which end in candle holders; they have the name “Clodion” engraved on them. The clock has an elongated base on white marble legs decorated with gilt bronze plaques with figurative scenes (children playing instruments and carrying garlands) and others with plant motifs and lacework. The dial is raised on a pedestal with animal heads, and, on a white background, it has coloured garlands and Arabic numerals for the hours and points and Arabic numerals every fifteen minutes; you can read “Aaria” on it. The piece is crowned by a kneeling faun, in a pensive attitude and pointing to two doves. This central element is flanked by two blued bronze figures of children playing horns. On the Paris machinery it has, you can read a number (448) and “Rango Fres / Paris”. The two candlesticks follow a highly appreciated model in the 19th century of a bronze figure of a bacchante (a common figure in the procession of the classical god Bacchus) made by Claude Michel (1738-Paris, 1814), known as Clodion. This French sculptor, invited to Russia by Catherine II, established a workshop in Paris where he specialised in small-format Rococo mythological sculpture in terracotta, stucco, etc., with such success that his works inspired numerous bronze sculptors to make sculptures, clocks, etc. Raingo Frères was the partnership of the four sons of the Belgian-born watchmaker Zacharie Joseph Raingo (1775-1847), Adolphe, Charles, Denis and Dorsant, formed in 1823. During the 1860s they made important pieces for Napoleon III and his wife, all of which are now housed in the Louvre Museum in Paris. Their well-deserved fame led them to collaborate with leading bronze sculptors and masters of their time, such as Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse and Auguste Moreau, and they won a Gold Medal at the 1889 Paris World's Fair. Weight: 33.5 kg.

· Size: Reloj 46x12x55 cms. Candelabros: 30x17x43 cms.