Baccarat

cut-crystal glass, gilt and patinated bronze

stamped 'Baccarat', the movement signed 'Planchon à Paris'

Please note that this piece currently located in Hong Kong

Baccarat were known for their ‘crystal’ glass, and had a long-established tradition for producing the finest in glassware like chandeliers, but it is highly unusual to see them innovate to this degree with a clock of such ambitious form. Generally, Baccarat clocks of this period remained of conventional design, usually retaining a typical white face with Roman numerals and traditional hands while adding cut-glass elements to a traditional gilt-bronze-mounted case. In contrast, this clock untethers itself entirely from the received notion of how clocks are designed, employing a rotating dial and an illusionistic insect-form hand to mark the time while mimicking the head of a sunflower. The result is an object that playfully deceives the eye, prioritising a ‘trompe l’oeil’ design that mimics the form of a natural sunflower in a vase, but with the ability to subtly tell the time.

The sunflower has long held associations of loyalty or even unrequited love in Europe, where it has been present since the 16th century. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the nymph Clytie’s love for Helios, the god of the sun, was not returned, leaving her to watch his path across the sky every day until her feet became rooted into the ground and her hair turned to petals – post-Renaissance readers have usually identified her with the sunflower, given the flower’s tendency to rotate its head towards the sun and also the similarity between its golden leaves and blonde hair.

Later, this would be used as a symbol of loyalty more generally, as in Anthony van Dyck’s famous Self-Portrait with Sunflower, which is usually interpreted as a statement of his faithful support of Charles I. The French name of this clock, ‘fleur d’hélianthe’, refers to the species helianthus, the scientific name for the genus that includes the common sunflower.

A mounted vase of similar form to the base of this clock, with etching that also draws on the style of Japanese decorative art, is in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, accession number C.1242-1917.