A Louis XVI Duc d’Angouleme Porcelaine Mantel Clock by Jean-Nicholas Schmit

The circular white enamel dial with black numerals, inscribed Schmit à Paris, with striking movement contained within a round case; surmounted by a gilded bronze trophy. Having on either side Biscuit figures representing Love and a child Bacchus. The dial is inset and raised on a porcelain base which has panels of foliage in Monochrome and is centred with a panel with the inscription “ Manufacture de Monsieur le Duc d’Angouleme A Paris”. Illustrated Pierre Kjellberg, Encyclopedie de la Pendule Francaise, Editions de L’Amateur Paris 1997 page 299 fig D Duc d’Angouleme Porcelain Factory Founded in 1781 by Christopher Dihl in association with Antoine Guerhard. Its development was very rapid and the quality of its production was quickly compared to that of Sevres, from which it poached the best workers. When Guerhard died in 1791, it employed more than 2,000 people.