Description/    

Conceived as a miniature architecture with two pediments directly in the center, this clock was produced in gilded bronze and translucent red enamel which gives it extravagance and luxury. The decorations seem to imitate the Boulle inlay, produced in parts (that’s to say that the bottom is made of enamel while the deocation in bronze). The gilded bronze decorations show some vegetation, foliage, leaves and flowers, exhibiting a great attention to the detail. The motifs located around the clock face show some candlesticks, in very worked shapes: they are shown, practically idential, in low-relief and as deocartions on the bottom of the enamel. Resting on a square base, from which the feet are chimeras with extended wings and open mouths, are giving them a terrifying appearance, the pedestal is decoarated with a coiling and jagged leather motif characteristic of the first art by Fontainebleau (1530-1550), motif reproduced in the cartouche. In the upper part, in the middle, is a Dianae with an ethereal and dynamic air made in high relief. It is a copy of the huntress Diane by Jean-Antoine Houdon, made in 1790, from which the bronze version is currently conserved in the Louvre Museum. Diane, svelte silhoutte balanced on the tip of a foot, seems to be captured in full chase. Pure feminine model figure, nobly holding her head, with elegant movements, her beauty gives rise to a respectful admiration. However, this integral nudity, judged improper during the exercise of the hunt, was scandalized by the contemporaries of Houdon.

Created in 1804, the company was restarted, starting in 1844, by the son, Guilllaume Derniere. The father and the son were important decorative bronze manufactures in Paris. Their works appeared the World Fair in Paris in 1855, described as, “clocks, chandeliers, candelabras, especially for the table, lights, etc, bronzes of different styles and times.” They moved several times, going from the rue de Turenne, in 1812, to the rue de Charlot (from 1860 to 1890) in passing by the rue d’Orleans (from 1820 to 1840). They also made bronze furniture, candelabras, lights, large candlesticks, as well as clocks, specialty table pieces in gilded bronze or “artistic” bronzes following antique (Clodion, Pigalle) or modern (Carrier-Belleuse...) models. This clock is characteristic of the reproduction practice. Their orders for the royal furniture under the July Monarchy and the Second Empire were very important: in 1852, for the Tuileries Garden, several clocks (Art Genie, Small reading lamp, Dog), large candlesticks, candelabras; in 1854 again for the Tuileries Garden, an entire series of clocks (Sapho, Agar and Ismael, Child with Penny Whistle). He also received numerous orders from abroad. The most spectacular are those of a gilded bronze especially for the Russian ambassador Kisselef in 1854, and several furniture pieces for the viceroy of Egypt, Said Pacha. His contributions to the World Fair were always anticipated and commented on  equally to those of the Maison Barbedienne.