Urania Mantel Clack

This extraordinary piece exemplifies the finest of early 19th century French bronze art. It depicts the goddess Urania holding a telescope and pointing to a star-studded sphere held by four sphinxes with crossed paws, standing on the roof of an Egyptian temple. The sphere contains a calendar ring and the signs of the Zodiac. The sides of the case are decorated with a serpent-wrapped bearded term flanked by kneeling Egyptian priestesses. The base is decorated with hieroglyphs. The monumental verde antico plinth contains a rectangular relief-cast frieze with river-gods, pyramids, sphinxes and figures emblematic of Astronomy.

The temple contains a clock with a 24-hour dial (2 x 12) and a sunburst indicator, encircling an enameled terrestrial map, centered at the North Pole.

The case was made by Jean-Francois Deniere between 1805 and 1811, almost certainly to designs by Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine. The design appeared in their design book in 1801.

Jean-François Denière (1774-1866) produced high-quality bronzes and furniture mounts for the French court and nobility, as well as for European courts and elite clientele in the United States.

Urania is the Greek muse (the “inspiration”) of astronomy. She is the daughter of Zeus and the great-granddaughter of Uranus. Eldest of the divine sisters, Urania inherited Zeus' majesty and power and the beauty and grace of her mother Mnemosyne. During the Renaissance, she was also considered the muse of Christian poets. She is also associated with Universal Love and the Holy Spirit. She is also associated with navigation, and her image appears on the official seal of the U.S. Naval Observatory, as well as many other observatories.