Terracotta clock by Louis-Simon Boizot
This terracotta clock features a standing winged figure, wearing a drapery around its waist and carrying an enamelled clock face above its head. At its sides, two terms are crowned with the heads of the Egyptian deities Isis and Osiris. Hieroglyphs enliven several lunar and stellar symbols, whilst Osiris is represented with multiple breasts. This singular iconography is inspired by the Artemis of Ephesus, an antique statue of a female figure symbolizing Nature or Mother Earth, nowadays in the Capitoline Museums in Rome. From the 16th to the 18th century, she served as a model for painters and sculptors alike. In our terracotta group, her features are adopted by Osiris, creating a mysterious and somehow exotic figure.
Between 1806 and 1808, the Fontaine de Palmier was constructed at Place de Châtelet in Paris. Louis-Simon Boizot (1743-1809), sculptor of the King and director of the workshop at the Manufacture de Sèvres, created the sculptures of this monumental fountain. Several allegorical figures form a circle around the column’s basis, crowned by a winged female figure representing Immortality and holding laurel wreaths. These figures display similar stylistic elements to our clock, notably their graceful figures and typical wings.
