Rococo Revival Cast Brass Mantel Clock — Roman Cartouche Dial, Quartz
$ 44.88
Description
Rococo Revival Cast Brass Mantel Clock — Roman Cartouche Dial, Quartz. Embossed central scrollwork field in matching brass. Black curlicue hands in the Rococo aesthetic. A cast-brass mantel clock in the Rococo revival idiom — scrolled cabriole feet, asymmetric C-scrolls and S-scrolls climbing the case, naturalistic roses and leaves cast across the body, and a floral finial crowning the top. White enamel cartouches around the bezel carry hand-painted Roman numerals with IIII at four in the traditional clock convention. Quartz movement underneath; running on a fresh battery. The casting: Real cast brass, not the lighter spelter alternative — the floral undercuts are crisp and the scroll volumes are clean and properly defined, which is what tells the higher-tier production apart from the cheaper-tier alternatives the same factories also made. Factory chemical patina gives the brass its intentional aged tone, and the lacquered finish has held up cleanly. The dial: Twelve white enamel cartouches inset into a beaded brass rim, each carrying a hand-painted Roman numeral (I through XII, with IIII at four in the traditional clock convention rather than IV). Embossed central scrollwork field in matching brass. Black curlicue hands in the Rococo aesthetic. The category: Decorative cast-brass mantel clocks in revivalist Rococo and Louis XV styles were produced through the mid-to-late twentieth century for the broader European and American furnishings market. The earlier examples housed Swiss or German mechanical movements; the 1980s-90s production updated the same castings with quartz modules. This is the quartz-era version of a case design that originated in the mechanical period, executed in real cast brass to the same quality standards. Condition: Cast brass and finish in clean condition with the factory-applied chemical patina intact across the body. Floral finial and scrollwork present and undamaged. Enamel cartouches intact, Roman numerals clean and legible. Quartz module runs on a fresh battery. No exterior maker's mark visible on the case. For the buyer who wants the visual richness of the Rococo decorative vocabulary in a real-cast-brass execution — the heavier-handed period idiom, the asymmetric scrollwork, the cartouche dial, the floral finial. Mid-to-late twentieth-century cast-brass revivals are their own legitimate decorative-arts category, and a clean medium-size example like this is the canonical shelf or mantel piece for the style. Included: Clock with installed quartz movement. Takes one standard AA battery (currently fitted, running).
