88 - A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED MARBLE MANTEL CLOCK, RAINGO FRERES, PARIS, THIRD QUARTER 19TH CENTURY

A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED MARBLE MANTEL CLOCK, RAINGO FRERES, PARIS, THIRD QUARTER 19TH CENTURY after a design by Robert Osmond of about 1775, the twin train eight day movement with exterior count wheel and striking the hours on a bell, backplate stamped with Raingo Freres roundel and numbered 1502, white enamel dial with blue Roman numerals and black outer five minutes in Arabic numerals, signed 'RAINGO FRES / A PARIS' , the Louis XVI style rouge griotte marble domed rectangular case on shaped plinth surmounted by a victory trophy and applied with Neo-classical foliate motifs and flanking cornucopiae, on six lobed feet, with pendulum and key, 44.5cm high The original design by Robert Osmond (1711-1789) may be found at the Bibliothèque Doucet in Paris, No.111 in his ‘ Livre des Desseins’ of 1775, described as '... Architecture Colonne Vase' (H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et. al., 'Vergoldete Bronzen', Munich, 1986, Vol I, p.228, fig 4.1.7) Raingo Frères became one of the best established bronziers and clockmakers of Second Empire Paris, supplying to Napoleon III as well as Empress Eugenie and exhibiting at the 1862 International Exhibition in London and the Paris World Fairs of 1867 and 1878, winning a gold medal the 1889 Exposition Universelle. See another Raingo clock of the same pattern but in ormolu with white marble plinth, sold Sotheby’s, New York, 13 April 2016, lot 516.