LeRoy Decorative Objects

Renaissance style gilt bronze and enamel mantel clock French, late 19th century Measures: Height 53cm, width 28cm, depth 23cm This exquisite mantel clock is crafted in the idios...

A very good quality late 19th Century French gilded ormolu and patinated bronze mantel clock, having a seated cherub holding the rains of a winged dragon pulling a scrolling foliate ...

French Napoleon III ormolu and porcelain sided mantel clock in four glass form. The clock has fine jewelled porcelain panels on three sides including the full size dial. The porcelai...

A very good quality, 19th century French gilded ormolu and champleve enamel clock garniture. The clock has a cherub on either side, an urn with swags to the top, 'C' scroll and folia...

Mantel Clock "Atala and Chactas" Paris Bronze (fire-gilt and patinated), enamel Empire around 1810 Dimensions: H x W x D: 40 x 32 x 11 cm Description: Very rare and extremely high quality French mantel clock, so-called Pendule Au Bon Sauvage. Depicted are scenes from the love story "Atala or the love of two savages in the desert" written by Francois René Vicomte de Chateaubriand in 1801. At the beginning of the 19th century, this was probably the most famous love story in Europe, but today it has been forgotten. The story, set in present-day Louisiana (USA), is roughly rewritten about the forbidden love between Chactas, a young Indian, and Atala, the beautiful daughter of a Spaniard. Chactas is captured in a battle between two Indian tribes, chained to a palm tree and is to be sacrificed. Atala wants to save his life and convert him to Christianity. She unties him from the palm tree at night and they flee together into the wilderness of North America. Their love for each other grows stronger and stronger and they have prospects for a future together. The story takes a tragic turn when Atala, who must remain a virgin due to a vow made by her mother, can no longer withstand the conflict of her feelings and commits suicide. The main group of characters thus shows Chacta's liberation through Atala. Atala is leaning against a pile of logs. The animal fur thrown over the logs and the weapons leaning against the stack on the right give the impression of a night camp. The bronze is of rarely beautiful quality, finely chiselled and makes the scene appear very lively. The contrast of fire-gilded and patinated bronze adds tension to the composition. In the base we see the Entombment as the end of the tragic love story. This bronze work is also very detailed, the interplay of bright and matt gilding makes the flat relief appear much deeper than it is. The depiction of the mantel clock presented here shows that the exotic was only known from stories and that the bronzier had his own ideas about the appearance of this distant world. The Indian, for example, has very European facial features and his skin was not black in reality, of course. The palm tree was also certainly not found in the North American wilderness. The heart of the clock is a French pendulum movement, integrated into the wooden pile, with an eight-day power reserve and a lock plate striking a bell on the half and full hour. The pendulum is suspended on a thread, typical of the period. The classically shaped hands, so-called Breguet hands, are also typical of the time. The enamelled dial has black Roman hour numerals, Arabic quarter hours and bears the signature: Le Roy hr. de Madame A PARIS. Interesting facts: The period from 1795 to about 1815 saw the creation of probably the most spectacular group of bronzes: The "Au bon Sauvage" pendulums - depictions of the "Noble Savage". Today's viewers react to these objects with both fascination and irritation. Enthusiastic on the one hand about the obvious quality of the detailed bronzes and the allure of the exotic, on the other hand distanced and cautious because of the possible discrimination that is suspected behind them. The ambivalence of this feeling motivates the search for the conditions of origin of these pendulums. Europeans found their new ideal of the natural man primarily in fictional and realistic travelogues about the Indians of North America...

A very unusual and quite monumental antique French Louis XVI style Napoleon III ormolu mantel clock by Maison Marquis, the Movement by Languereau, Paris, 1860: surmounted by an urn i...

Pendule Portefaix Paris Bronze, enamel Empire around 1810 Dimensions: H x W x D: 36 x 28 x 11 cm Description: Beautiful, fire-gilded and patinated bronze pendule from the early 19...

A Louis XVI style ormolu carriage clock, pendule d'officier. By L. Leroy , Paris. In an ormolu case with enamel dial. Mechanism not tested to see if it runs.

Napoleon III French two marbles mantel clock late 19th century circa 1890. Set of a clock and two pedestals. Mercury pendulum The French movement of the clock will be checked befor...

Large Lyra pendulum clock with ram’s heads France Mahogany, bronze c. 1825 Dimensions: H x W x D: 59 x 28 x 15 cm Description: A large and exquisitely crafted lyre clock made of m...

A Very Fine French 19th Century Gilt-Bronze Figural Mantel Clock, Horloge à Poser, by Henri Picard and Fedinand Barbedienne - ‘F. Barbédienne & Cie. / A Paris’, after the model by É...

French Empire Ormolu Bronze Portico Mantel Clock by Gaston Jolly, Paris, Circa 1810s, with original pendulum.