Jean-Baptiste Lepaute

With trussed hair and flowing drapery, these young dancing nymphs recall the grace and beauty of classical art, yet Clodion also renders these figures with lush realism, balancing each on one foot.  As the nymphs turn around a fluted column, their garments swirl around them. The French sculptor Clodion, one of the most inventive and technically gifted sculptors of the eighteenth century, trained in Rome, where he studied classical statuary and discovered an affinity for working in clay. 

This clock istelf was designed by renowned Parisian clockmaker Jean-Baptiste Lepaute.  The transparent sphere makes visible the sparkling clock’s mechanisms — the pendulum, rotating dial, and small bell.  When the clock chimes on the hour, its delicate sounds give voice to the nymphs’ dance, revealing the harmonious collaboration of clockmaker and sculptor.