Pendulum Borne In Gilt Bronze - Allegory Of The Goddess Hera - Period: Restoration

Sublime pendulum in gilded bronze, the mercury gilding is original. The dial is white enamelled and the hours are written in Roman numerals.

Period: Restoration
Dimensions: Height: 48.5cm x Length: 34.5cm x Depth: 12.5cm
Original mechanism without modification.
Overhauled by a watchmaker and in perfect working order.

A bollard-type model, it represents the myth of the Goddess Hera skillfully staged.
Hera is the protective goddess par excellence of women and the goddess of legitimate marriage, guardian of the fertility of the couple and of women in childbirth.

Here we are in the presence of a scepter or figure two alliances, feminine and masculine entwined, symbolizing the legitimate union of marriage. No veil for our beautiful goddess but an amphora filled with water, a reference once again to the history of our goddess where each year we celebrated the hierogamy, the sacred marriage of Hera and Zeus, which marked the renewal vegetation. Hera regained her virginity in the living waters of springs and rivers.

Beneath the dial, a magnificent peacock is revealed, the favorite animal of our Greek divinity Hera, wife of Zeus.

According to Greek mythology the "eyes" visible on the peacock's tail were placed there by Hera to commemorate her faithful guardian, Argos, who had a hundred eyes (Ovid I, 625).

According to legend, Argos was hired by Hera, jealous of Io, one of the nymphs courted by her husband Zeus, whom she suspected of adultery. She transformed the young woman into a heifer and entrusted her guardianship to the giant to spy on her husband.

Argos possessed a hundred eyes and kept fifty of them open which constantly watched while the other fifty slept, so that it was impossible to deceive its vigilance. When Zeus realized this, he then sent Hermes to kill him, and free Io.

Hera decided to pay homage to the loyalty of the giant Argos by putting her hundred eyes in the tail of her favorite bird, the peacock.

The two young spouses are represented in profile, one facing the other, on the bollard which rests on four finely chiseled top feet.

Subtle "wink" reminding both spouses of their vows of fidelity.

Ref: 8KXUKS4L9T