Empire Clock Medici Vase by Philippe Thomire

An Empire Medici vase-shaped mantel clock attributed to Pierre-Philippe Thomire.
This elegant vase clock of great scenic effect, has on the top a nice foliate finely pierced domed cover surmounted by palm fronds and a pinecone finial, the circular bezel headed by a ribbon-tie with cascading floral swags and flanked by a pair of classic female slightly bent on themselves standing on plinths above lower scrolled handles, with a Mercury mask below the dial flanked by floral swags above a spreading circular wreath-banded foot placed upon a stepped square griotte marble base centred by an Apollo head mask above beaded and acanthus gilt-bronze bands, supported on four turned feet.

Considering the quality of the bronze, gilding and finishing, and its similarity to other clocks found in royal residences, noble houses and publications, as well as a careful examination by experts in the field of European decorative bronzes, we can attribute this splendid Medici vase clock belonging to the production of Pierre-Philippe Thomire.

Pierre-Philippe Thomire
Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751–1843), a French sculptor, was the most prominent bronzier of the First French Empire‘s ornamental patinated and gilt-bronze objects and furniture mounts.
His fashionable neoclassical and Empire style furnishing bronzes established the highest standard for that time. He had received his training in the workshop of Pierre Gouthière, the outstanding Parisian ciseleur-doreur working in the Louis XVI style, before establishing his shop in 1776.

He gradually assumed the leading position of his former master. In 1783–84 he received his first notable commission, casting and finishing the gilt-bronze handles modelled by Louis-Simon Boizot for a pair of Sèvres porcelain vases, today divided between the Musée du Louvre and Palazzo Pitti.
A significant number of the bronzes by Thomire had been commissioned for the Imperial residences. At the height of his business, Thomire employed six or seven hundred workers, and he retired from his firm in 1823.

Clock movement
The clock movement is created by Parisian clockmaker Sirost, who is recorded as working from rue Bertin-Poiré from at least 1806-10 and from rue des Fontaines in 1840.
The movement with anchor escapement, silk thread suspension, striking on the hour and half-hour on a single bell, with outside count wheel.