Clock, of ormolu, surmounted by a seated figure of Ulysses. Bequeathed to the Board of Education in trust for the nation by the late George Derwent Radclyffe. France, early 19th century.

oblong pedestal of copper alloy, gilded (ormolu), decorated in front with an applied trophy of lances, helmets, and branches of laurel: it is supported by a plinth enriched with leaf and dart and laurel mouldings standing on feet formed of an owl with open wings flanked by two pythons. A seated figure of Ulysses, clothed only with a folded mantle cast about him, holds a spear in his right hand; his left rests on a circular shield which forms the dial; behind him, his sheathed sword, wreathed with his sword-belt, leans against the back of his seat.

The figure of Ulysses is seated on a plinth decorated with applied trophy of lances, helmets and branches of laurel. Ulysses is represented as a military hero, resting on his laurels, following the Fall of Troy and his safe return home to Ithaca.

This clock was left to the Board of Education in trust for the Nation by George Derwent Radclyffee descendant of the Derwentwater family.

Bequeathed by Mr. George Derwent Radclyffe, 1908, a descendant of the Earls of Derwentwater, with an address in Haywards Heath. Radclyffe also bequeathed to the V&A two watercolours of Venice by Edward Pritchett and a landscape by George Smith of Chichester to the Tate (Tate Britain).

An Empire mantel clock with a seated figure of Ulysses, presented as a military hero after the Fall of Troy. Inspired by Homer's Odyssey, the imagery represents domestic Peace achieved through military prowess and probably celebrates the re-establishment of peace in Europe after the Napoleonic wars. The clock is not signed but is characteristic of domestic clocks incorporating classical imagery produced in France during the first quarter of the 19th century.

586-1908