Pair of barometer and thermometer decorative clocks forming a matching set by Alfred Emmanuel Beurdeley

Pair of barometer and thermometer decorative clocks forming a matching set in engraved and gilded bronze in two shades of gold, matte and shiny, adorned with medallions in blue and white Wedgwood porcelain illustrating a mother and her children. White enamel dials with Roman and Arabic numerals signed A. Beurdeley fils in Paris. The mercury tubes are flanked by small columns and topped with heads of Zephyrs and garlands of flowers. The dials are accentuated by cornucopias and have a base finished with a pinecone. Large ribbon bow at the top.

Signed BY in counter-relief on the reverse.
French work in Louis XVI style from the end of the 19th century.

The decorative clocks are those reproduced in the book L’Ameublement d’art français 1850-1900, Camille Mestdagh, Les éditions de l’Amateur, Paris, 2010, page 221 (fig. 258). The decorative matching clocks with a barometer are a reproduction of a well-known and documented model attributed to Pierre-Joseph-Désiré Gouthière, formerly preserved at the Château de Saint-Cloud, then transferred under the order of Empress Eugénie in 1870, and now on display at the Louvre Museum (inv. OA5493-94).

On the Beurdeley stand copies of the barometer-thermometer attributed to Gouthière were displayed during the first exhibition of the Central Union of Fine Art as Applied to Industry in 1880, dedicated to “metal”.

The famous black and white photograph illustrating the Beurdeley stand at the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. Highlighted in the background in the centre is the barometer and the sconces on either side of the office of the King.

Bibliography:
PAYNE, C., Paris, the quintessence of furniture in the 19th century, Monelle Hayot editions, 2018.