A Monumental Porcelain Figural Clock

A Monumental German Porcelain Figural Clock, Dresden Region, Late 19th Century, the Figure Conceived in the Classical Tradition of Polyhymnia, the Pensive Muse. This clock houses a fine original French Movement.

Height: 28 in. (71.12 cm)

Width: 16.88 in. (42.88 cm)

Depth: 7.88 in (20.02 cm)

The unusually large porcelain clock is modeled with a classically draped female figure leaning contemplatively upon the clock housing, her head supported by her hand. The pose derives closely from the ancient sculptural tradition associated with Polyhymnia, one of the Nine Muses, whose characteristic iconography includes an enveloping mantle, contemplative attitude and reliance upon a column, rock or architectural support. Here the traditional support has ingeniously been transformed into the clock housing itself.

And regarding manufacture:

The elaborate flower-encrusted decoration, painted Deutsche Blumen, landscape reserves and historicizing form place the clock within the highly sophisticated German porcelain tradition of the later nineteenth century. Comparable examples have been catalogued as German, “in the manner of Meissen,” while others have been tentatively attributed to Meissen.