Clock with Art Deco trim. France, ca. 1920. Lot n° 41

Clock with Art Deco trim. France, ca. 1920. Marble and bronze. Movement to be overhauled. Preserves seller's label, rue Daguerre, Paris. Measures: 43 x 49.5 x 18 cm (clock); 59 x 17 x 37 cm (obelisks). Art Deco table clock, with two ornamental obelisks, the whole forming an Egyptian-inspired garnish. Made of bronze in each of its sculptures, pedestals and central body, it is combined with green marbled marble in the obelisks and part of the case. A sphinx with a feline body, carved in a rounded form, rests on the trapezoidal structure, flanked by two griffins (winged hybrid animals). Other winged figures, carved around the sphere and on the base, refer to the goddess Isis and the falcon Shen. Egyptian culture was one of the aesthetic references reformulated formally by Art Deco, whose preference for the reductive simplicity of geometry can be seen here in the obelisks and the central truncated cone-shaped body, rounded volumes with sharp edges. The clock, with its moulded profile, has Roman numerals and black hands on a gilt background. The marble is incised with hieroglyphs on each of its bands.