Louis Period Obelisk Clock XVI (1774 - 1793).

Pendulum in the shape of an obelisk in white marble and gilded bronze. The clock is underlined with golden pearls. Its dial with Arabic numerals is
supported by sphinxes united by a drapery. It is surmounted by two bacchantes supporting a globe. The clock is decorated with an armillary sphere.

The armillary sphere is an instrument formerly used in astronomy to model the celestial sphere. It was used to show the apparent movement of the stars, the Sun and the ecliptic around the Earth. The reference system is then the geocentric system also known as “Ptolemy's system”. In other words, it is a model in which we consider the Earth as the center of the Universe.

The dial signed "Joseph Revel in Paris", watchmaker received master in 1775.

A clock in the same spirit signed "Joseph Revel" is kept at the Petit Palais, Museum of Fine Arts of the City of Paris.

France.

XVIIIth century.

Dimensions: Height: 52 cm; Width: 17,5 cm; Depth: 12,5 cm.

References:

Tardy's Dictionary of Watchmakers

Kjelberg, Encyclopedia of the French clock from the Middle Ages to the present day