This table clock has a porcelain case in pastel polychrome colours. Four full-relief figures of children represent the four seasons of the year: spring, with flowers in hair and holding a garland; summer, with a sheaf of wheat; autumn, at the top with bunches of grapes in their hair; and winter in a blanket next to a fire. Porcelain flowers cover the rest of the box.

The clock face and movement are in the centre of the case. The face is surrounded by a gilded bronze frame decorated with chiselled and slightly raised egg-and-dart moulding. A cover with a pearled face protects the clock face. The hour dial is in white porcelain with the hours in Roman numerals. The minutes are in Arabic numerals, in five-minute intervals. The clock has the original hands in gilded bronze and the hour hands with a fleur-de-lys profile. Two keyholes.

Parisian-style French movement. The wheel train keeps the watch running for eight days. The escapement is pin-pallet and the regulator is a pendulum. The chiming mechanism strikes the hours and half hours using a countwheel and bell. The number 1152 appears on the plate.

The two porcelain candelabras are also decorated with pairs of full-relief children, seated on trunks, who represent the seasons of the year. Spring with a basket of flowers and summer with a sheaf of wheat and a scythe are on one of the trunks.  Autumn is on the other, with bunches of grapes in their hair and holding a glass, accompanied by winter, who is covered by a blanket and warming their hands over a small fire. The column rises up from the base and the light body consisting of four arms, decorated with leaves and flowers, finished by a sconce in the shape of a leaf and a lighter. Circular base with four raised scrolls decorated with insects and flowers. Factory mark and a gilded B inside.

This porcelain factory drew its inspiration from the plant in Meissen. The second half of the 18^th century saw a development in Thuringia that had a great impact on the porcelain industry in Europe. This highly forested region was suitable for manufacturing porcelain, as it provided an affordable source of the firewood that the factories needed. The composition of the paste was not the same as in Meissen or in Vienna, and is therefore known as ‘Thuringia paste’.

In 1760, G. H. Macheleif was awarded a licence to manufacture porcelain in Sitzendorf, but the factory was transferred to Volkstedt in 1792.The heyday of Thuringia porcelain was in the 19^th century.

Amelia Aranda Huete