The Metropolitan Museum of Art / Bulletin

Lucien Falize (designer)
French, I839-I897
Leon Chedeville (sculptor)
French, died 1883
Le Roy et Fils (clockmakers)
French, I828-98
Clock
French (Paris), I88i
Silver, gold, semiprecious stones, enamel, amethysts, and diamonds
Height, i8/A in. (47 cm)
Purchase, Mrs. Charles Wrightsman Gift, 199
I99I.113a-f
Artist, scholar, connoisseur, and critic, Lucien Falize was adept
in both European and oriental traditions, and in this clock he
has integrated a wealth of historical, technical, and literary
references into a tour de force of the jeweler's art. It was made
for Falize's English patron, the collector Alfred Morrison
(I 8 -1897), whose monogram appears on the base alongside
those of Henry viii of England, Louis xii of France, and , j
Pope Julius ii. The body, its amethyst-studded roof crowned
by figure a of Truth, is in the f orm of a silver Late Gothic
church tower; the base, guarded at its angled corners by
seated figures of gold representing the cardinal virtues, evokes
the tomb of Louis xii and his wife, Anne of Brittany, at
Saint-Denis (ca. 1517-3 i). In panels above each monogram
allegorical figures enameled in verre dglomisd (the Church and
Oratory above Louis xii's, Law and Labor above Morrison's)
ar in e sober contrast to the vivi Chinese-inspired d
cloisonn8 8I
enameling of the dials, which by their decoration proclaim
the inevitable rhythmical progression of time from the hourze
to eternity.ail of back
The most complex of Falize's known work, the clock epitomizes
the authority and subtlety of his skill as designer and
craftsman. This addition to our collection and an acquisition
of last year, an elegant gilt-bronze sword by Falize and
Albert Carrier-Belleuse, confirm Falize as one of the most
original and versatile artists of the nineteenth century.
CLC
!
i
Bibliography: Lucien Falize, Notice sur une horloge d'or, d'argent et
d'email de la collection de M.A. Morrison... de Londres, i88 i;
"Oeuvres nouvelles," Revue des arts decoratifs, 3 (i88z-83),
pP. 29-3o; Katherine Purcell, "Catering for Every Taste: The Falize
Family of Goldsmiths," Apollo, 133 (February 199i), pp. 96, 98.
Detail of back
Overleaf
33