Mantel clock (pendule de cheminée) 1752 - 1765

This mantel clock was made in France by Julien Le Roy, a clockmaker in the court of Louis XV. Clocks like this one were a common form of decorative art in wealthy European homes. This clock is adorned with a bronze sculpture of a woman reading, which sits atop a gilded clock face. The image suggests that knowledge and education are precious commodities to be valued. It seems to tell us that time should be spent reading. In this period, literacy and learning were markers of class, wealth and social position. Book ownership was largely restricted to the upper classes. Timepieces too, were luxury items. By understanding the clock’s original context, its combination of images and objects, we can better understand its meaning. Social and institutional histories, alongside economic factors, would all have shaped the production of an object like this. By researching these factors, we can get a sense of how time and learning were valued in eighteenth-century France.