Mantelpiece clock with Cupid and a Lady. Ca 1855 – 1880. Bronze, gilded

The inspiration for the decorative clock depicting a lady playing with a small Cupid, the god of love, may have been a Rococo-style vignette, for instance, the theme of “Cupid stealing time.” However, here Cupid is not sneaking away with stolen time, but is reminding the clock owner that love takes time.
In connection with the Rococo style, which reigned from the 1730s to the 1770s–80s, becoming fashionable again between the 1850s and 1870s, the forms and motifs of the former period were readily copied, as on this clock.

Japy Frères et Cie (1771–1979) was a company in France that, during its 200 years of operation, grew from a small clockmaker’s workshop to the second largest manufacturer of metal objects in the country.