A LATE 19TH CENTURY FRENCH GILT AND PATINATED BRONZE FIGURAL MANTLE CLOCK circa 1880, the patinated bronze winged putto grasping a bunch of gilt flowers beside the square gilt clock case surmounted by a finial of oak leaves, over a white marble base with six toupie feet, the white enamel dial with Arabic numerals joined by floral garlands and Arabic five minute markers, the twin train movement stamped 'Japy Freses et Cie, Grand Diplome d'Honneur' and number '9873' with outside countwheel, striking the hours and half hours on a bell, with pendulum and a winder,

38cm high

The design for this clock featuring Cupid standing on a stack of books, is based on a Louis XVI original which depicts Cupid holding a cockerel rather than a sprig of foliage. The original theme represented Study and the necessity of a sharp mind, it depicts a putto knocking over a stack of books and a scroll (knowledge) to grasp a cockerel (alertness). It was originally designed in 1770, and a Louis XVI period example signed 'Leppens Cie / Bruxelles' is illustrated in E. Niehuser, 'French Bronze Clocks', Schiffer, 1999, p. 88.