THOMIRE ET CIE (Paris) et Moinet Aîné (Actif à... Lot n° 38

CLOCK " ACHILLES OR THE PYRE OF PATROCLUS ". Paris, circa 1820 Gilt bronze; antique green marble; enamel and glass Dial signed with both names: Thomire Comp[agn]ie // Moinet Aîné P[aris] H. 53 cm; W. 38 cm; D. 19 cm Achilles, a young Greek man wearing a helmet, is seated on an antique green marble base decorated with a frieze of arms centered on an oval shield. "The weapons obviously have a great significance in the story of the battles that oppose successively Patroclus to Hector, then the latter to Achilles: Achilles refusing to fight lends his weapons to Patroclus, Hector strips him of them after killing him and puts them on; he will be stripped of them in turn by Achilles. These weapons, in turn the hero's panoply and a trophy taken from the enemy, [denote] Achilles' intention to pay tribute to Patroclus with this posthumous trophy" (extract from A.-M. Adam, "Le bûcher de Patrocle et l'ostentation des armes dans les sociétés indigènes d "Italie méridionales", Ktéma, n° 25, 2000, p. 127). The hero leans on an altar decorated with a trophy of arms, topped by an oil lamp. The dial he receives bears the signature of Thomire et Cie, used from 1819, as well as that of the watchmaker Moinet aîné, active in Paris between 1806 and 1860. Together they signed another clock inspired by Greek literature depicting Oedipus and Antigone at the tomb of Laius and in the Louvre Museum in Paris (OA 7806, reproduced in D. Alcouffe et al, Les Bronzes d "ameublement du Louvre, Dijon, 2004, p. 279)