Empire Jason and the Golden Fleece Mantel Clock attributed to Pierre-François Feuchère, Paris, 1810

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Description

This is not merely a clock — it is a statement piece, a sculptural presence that commands any room it … Read more This is not merely a clock — it is a statement piece, a sculptural presence that commands any room it inhabits. Few objects of the Empire period achieve such a synthesis of narrative drama, technical mastery and sheer visual impact.
A Masterpiece of Gilded and Burnished Bronze
At the very moment Jason seizes the Golden Fleece, the artist freezes time. The hero stands triumphant over the slain dragon, sword still in hand, arm outstretched toward the fleece hanging from the broken oak — a composition of irresistible dynamism and tension. This is sculpture first, clock second.
The interplay between matte and polished gilt surfaces, between the burnished darkness of the oak trunk and the brilliance of the gilded figure, creates a chiaroscuro effect of exceptional pictorial sophistication. Every detail — the helmet, the tunic, the sandals, the folds of Jason's cloak cascading over the Verde Antico marble base on gilt lion paw feet — speaks of a hand at the absolute peak of its craft.
The gilt bronze dial, centred by the figures of Mars and Diana with blued steel Breguet-style hands, is mounted with studied discretion at the base of the oak trunk, so as not to interrupt the sculptural narrative. Even the movement reveals the maker's obsessive refinement: the winding holes are concealed beneath the dial figures, and a bronze cap on the back of the tree — a feature exclusive to the earliest Jason models — hides access to the mechanics entirely.
Pierre-François Feuchère — Bronzist to the Crown
Pierre-François Feuchère (1737–1828) was among the most distinguished bronzists of his age, listed in the Almanac from 1819 as ciseleur-doreur sur tous métaux, des bâtiments du roi, breveté des menus plaisirs et du garde-meuble de la couronne — bronze maker to the King, by royal warrant. Together with his son Lucien-François, he supplied gilt-bronze objects to the Royal Court of Louis XVI and the grandest aristocratic residences of Europe, including the Residenz Munich, Würzburg and the Schwarzenberg Palais in Vienna.
An Iconic Model — Present in the Greatest Collections
The rarity and importance of this model is confirmed by the distinction of the collections in which identical examples are recorded: the Musée national du Château de Malmaison, Napoleon's own residence; and the Palacio Real de Madrid, supplied directly to the Spanish Royal Family. These are not merely comparable pieces — they are the benchmarks by which this model is measured.
The subject itself carries extraordinary cultural resonance. The myth of Jason and the Golden Fleece — the hero's quest, the conquest of the impossible — made this model one of the defining images of Empire taste, sharing its iconographic world with Bertel Thorvaldsen's celebrated marble Jason (1803, Thorvaldsens Museum, Copenhagen).
Literature
• Musée national du Château de Malmaison (identical example)
• Palacio Real, Madrid — Catalogo de Relojes del Patrimonio Nacional, Ramon Colon de Carvajal, Madrid 1987, p. 186, pl. 166
• Pierre Kjellberg, Encyclopédie de la Pendule Française, 1997, p. 413 (identical clock illustrated)
• Elke Niehüser, Die Französische Bronzeuhr, 1997, p. 64, pl. 91
• Bernard Chevallier, Decors d'Empire, 2008, p. 34
• Ottomeyer & Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, 1986, p. 351, pl. 5.7.6 See less