Design for a Clock: Commerce 19th century

This watercolor design for a clock, made by an anonymous artist, features the image of a reclining cherub and is ornamented with porcelain and gilded metal. This design reflects the interest in the decorative arts that emerged in eighteenth-century France, and the rise of the luxury market as a key component of the French economy. Here, the artist is not merely designing a functional object, but also composing an extravagant scene, and drawing on the visual language of classical art, with the reclining cherub and the floral ornaments. What can we say about the social conditions that shaped artistic production at the time? Well, we know that the French Royal Academy played a significant role in shaping artistic taste and promoting certain styles. But, as this drawing shows, there was also a growing market for more decorative and playful art objects outside the strict control of academic institutions. Historians of design use inventories, trade records and other sources to trace the ways in which luxury goods circulated in the eighteenth century. These objects offer a window into the social and economic transformations of the era.