What is French Dore, you ask? In the early 18^th century, Baroque and Rococo design styles became very popular with the upper class nobility and royalty, most notably in France and England. Rococo style was known for its heavy ornamentation, using gold or gilded decorations. Unfortunately, France had a major gold shortage and because of that scarcity, gold hybrids were invented. Mixing gold with mercury paste was a well-used hybrid—a gilding method the French named ormolu, which means mashed gold. Ormolu became very popular all over Europe, wherever gold sources were hard to come by, & many antique mantle clocks reflect this.

Creating ormolu, however, was an extremely dangerous process. In order to mercury gild an object, the mixture of gold-mercury was applied to a bronze or brass mount and heated until the mercury vaporized. When the object cooled, only the gold was left behind, affixed firmly to the mount. The downside of the process hit the ormolu crafters, though. Inhaling mercury fumes is massively toxic and led to the demise of most ormolu crafters by the age of 40.

This gorgeous French Dore bronze antique mantle clock being shown was made in France around the year 1900 and represents the Allegory of Wisdom. It is done in the beautiful Louis XVI style, with the bronze figurine of Cleopatra as the focal point, on a base of  lovely white marble. The barefooted image of Cleopatra leans gracefully against the clock itself, with her gown flowing down so elegantly that mere words cannot describe. In her left hand is a snake, curling around her arm and in her right hand she holds a mirror. The snake is one of the early symbols of wisdom, while the mirror stands for self-reflection, necessary to attain wisdom. The integration of the clock symbolizes fleeting time, which is also a part of wisdom. There are wonderful ormolu embellishments and swags below Cleopatra’s figure and on the marble base as well.

 The creamy white enamel dial is complete with black Roman numerals and delicate black hour and minute hands, including the original glass door in the front and also the back. The dial is signed “Lepine a Paris”. On the face of this outstanding clock are two winding holes, one for the Clock Movement and one for winding the mechanism, which pleasantly chimes at the half hour and hour on a large, silvered bronze bell. The French Movement is stamped by the famous, gold medal winning clockmaker, “Samuel Marti 1900 Medaille D’OR Paris”. The height of this superb clock is 13.2 inches and is 11.4 inches wide. The dazzling magnificence of this French Dore Bronze Louis XVI style antique mantle clock would grace any room with its classic romantic design!