Exceptional neoclassical mantel clock in green porphyry from Alsace and very finely chased, patinated and gilded bronze. The rectangular base with rounded ends and a wide doucine is adorned with two muses supporting the movement in an octagonal frame, surmounted by Apollo playing the lyre seated on a cloud. The enamelled dial, with Roman numerals for the hours, Arabic numerals for the quarters and a railway for the minutes, is signed Robin Fils. Louis XVI period, attributed to François Rémond (circa 1747-1812). Height 71 cm - Width: 56 cm - Depth: 19 cm (Accident to the dial) Our clock, by its size, quality of manufacture and above all the use of rare green porphyry from Alsace, is very probably a prestigious commission. The model of our clock is generally attributed to François Rémond. The same mascarons can be found on the famous "à l'étude" clock marketed by Daguerre from 1784, one of which is kept at the Château de Versailles. A clock of the same design, but in white marble, is also known. The craze for objects mounted in granite, onyx, porphyry and other hard stones, which peaked in the second half of the 18th century in France, encouraged the administration, in particular the Menus-Plaisirs department under the authority of the Duc d'Aumont, to explore the kingdom's marble resources in order to limit imports of Italian specimens. Fortunately discovered in 1768, the marble deposits in the Vosges were soon exploited by royal factories, such as the one in Remiremont, and produced granite, also known as green or ashy porphyry, or green serpentine; the stones cut in this way were then sold in Paris through the Magasin ou Dépôt des Ouvrages en roches, consisting of granite, granitelle, jasper, serpentine and porphyry. In 1774, the architect François-Joseph Bélanger, a close collaborator of the Duc d'Aumont, wrote a work on ancient marbles, along with a draft treatise on soft marbles and those we possess, in which he shows that we have in our provinces some of the marbles that the Greeks and Romans fetched from Upper Egypt, and that porphyry and granite are found in Alsace, that we have immense quarries of it and that this material is perfectly of the same nature as that of which we have ancient fragments. The Duc d'Aumont's own niece, the Duchesse de Mazarin, also owned one of the main marble deposits in the Vosges, Giromagny; from this quarry may have come the serpentine in her uncle's two vases, mounted by Pierre Gouthière and later acquired by Louis XVI in 1782 (now in the Louvre). Proof of their commercial success, Vosges marbles were sometimes the subject of specialised sales, such as those organised by Jean-Baptiste Feuillet, a sculptor and marble-maker, and the merchant Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Lebrun, notably the sale known as the Du Pereux sale on 23 March 1784: "Catalogue d'une collection précieuse de marbres d'Alsace, tels que porphyre, granit, serpentin, etc." (Catalogue of a valuable collection of marbles from Alsace, such as porphyry, granite, serpentine, etc.), composed of vases of various shapes such as bowls, basins and column shafts, several of which are mounted in matt gold bronze and others ready to be gilded, executed on beautiful profiles and models by M. Feuillet.