Montgolfier Brothers' Balloon

The clock was made to commemorate the first flight of the balloon constructed in 1783 by the Montgolfier brothers. It is conceived as a sculpture of bronze gilt, while the movement is inserted in a spherical silver housing. The lower part of the clock is extremely monumental, basically conical in shape, but articulated with clotted accumulations on which some thirty putto figures carrying wheat, torches and a flaming urn are arranged in a spiral. The virtual movement is directed to the top where there is a silver ball symbolising the balloon, in which the mechanism is located. In the upper hemisphere of the dome there are 24 openings in front of each of which is a movable cornice with enamelled fields on which signs for the hours and signs of the zodiac alternate. As the mechanism moves, the cornice turns, and the exact time can be read off, where a certain number is positioned under the fixed hand. On one side the figure of the wind god Aeolus leans against the sphere, and on the other, winged Fame. The housing for the clock is shaped similarly to the model for the not produced monument to the first flight of the balloon, made by French sculptor Clodion in 1784 on a commission from the Parisian Direction des Batiments. This clock, made after the Clodion model, is a very rare artefact that has the stylistic features of Rococo and the forthcoming Classicism.