A French Directoire ormolu and black marble mantel clock. Set upon six toupee ormolu feet the marble base has chamfered corners quite unlike other examples of this model. The case is a homage to Diana with mirror images of Diana with the sickle moon in her hair and with bow and arrow on each side of the patinated bronze frame. The two part frame is held above the base by four satyr masks with hooved feet. Below the dial is an ormolu mount of a hunter showing his dog the catch and surmounting the clock is a very fine mount of a cupid riding a stag. The fine convex enamel dial is signed Victor Alex. Rehm à Mayence. The chapters are of Roman numerals and the fine hands are well pierced and gilt bronze. The large 8 day movement with flat bottomed plates , silk suspension pendulum and striking the hours and halves on a bell. France/Germany Dated and signed in the movement 1801. 23ins high by 15 inches wide by 5 inches deep ( 57.5 cm by 37.5 cm by 12.5 cm). An unusual clock as it was clearly made during the brief occupation of Mainz by French troops who call the city Mayence. The French Revolutionary army occupied Mainz in 1792 but after a seige of 18 weeks the French garrison surrendered on the 23 July 1793 1797, the French returned. The army of Napoléon Bonaparte occupied the German territory to the west of the Rhine river, and the Treaty of Campo Formio awarded France this entire area. On 17 February 1800, the French Département du Mont-Tonnerre was founded here, with Mainz as its capital, the Rhine river being the new eastern frontier of la Grande Nation. Austria and Prussia could not but approve this new border with France in 1801. However, after several defeats in Europe during the next years, the weakened Napoléon and his troops had to leave Mainz in May 1814.