Antique French Comtoise Clock Face & Brass Crest, Signed "Bte Pascaud a Valence"

Original 19th-century French Comtoise clock face with its pierced repousse gilt-brass crest and matching ornamental surround. The white enamel dial is signed "Bte Pascaud a Valence" for Baptiste Pascaud and his town, Valence in the Drome. The crest is the classic Comtoise design: a radiant sunburst with a female mask above a basket of flowers flanked by sweeping acanthus, with beaded and rope borders and floret corner bosses on the surround.

Signed, crested Comtoise faces are the collector's tier of this category. Designers hang them alone on a wide wall or lean them on a mantel where the gilt can catch lamplight.