Watercolour and gouache over lithographic line, on laid paper. Inscribed: j. B. A. / imprie lithoque de c motte rue des marais fg. St. Gn. Numbered: 23. Dimensions: 68cm. By 50. 8cm. To be executed in gilt bronze and blue enamel; silvered metal dial; black marble platform. A figure of father time with his scythe, an hour glass and a snake between his feet, in the act of emptying a cornucopia over a star-studded globe fronted by the clock dial, resting on clouds; the frieze with motifs from the iconography of time, including a broken column, a youthful and an aged father time. Of all classical iconography, father time remains the most current. He stems from an ancient mistaken conflation of the greek word for time, chronos with the figure of their god of agriculture, cronos, who had a sickle for an attribute. The romans continued the fusion by identifying their god of agriculture, saturn (who also had a sickle), with father time. A snake, often depicted with its tail in its mouth, is a symbol of eternity, while the hourglass’s allusion is comparatively obvious. Father time is generally depicted performing numerous allegorical acts: he records in his book the deeds of heroes, he reveals truth and innocence, thus confirming that right must in the end prevail (a vital concordance for the bourbons), he destroys youth and beauty, and finally takes away life itself (hence the broken column and the youthful and old figures on the clock’s frieze). Date: between 1815 and 1820..
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