Fine French Empire mantel clock of woman playing with child in ormolu and black marble. A lovely quality piece and in high Empire form but of an extremely domesticated scene. A woman sits on a classical chair , the arms in the form of winged busts of women. She wears an Empire line dress and has her hair tied in the classical manner. She has one foot resting upon an elaborately decorated stool on which stands a young child reaching up to try and catch a ball being thrown by the woman playing the game of cup and ball. Below her lies a cat and behind her sits a dog. The concave moulding below is decorated with forget-me-not flowers. The base in which the clock movement and dial sit is decorated to each side with applied ormolu mounts of a winged Hermes. To the angle of the base is a n applied ormolu mount of cornucopia with Hermes staff or Caduceus between. To the front left and right a mount of a classical urn and just to the right of the dial a fine mount of a goat. This part of the clock sits upon four ormolu paw feet which in turn stand on a fine piece of black marble conforming to the shappe of the clock aboveThis all stands upon four fine ormolu toupee feet. The white enamel convex dial is beautifully signed in script and has black Roman hour numerals and Arabic numerals at the quarters. The hands are very finely cast and finished gilt bronze hands. The bezel surrounding the dial is of ormolu and decorated with Amthemion between concentric circles of beading. The movement is of 8 day duration and is regulated by a silk suspended peendulum. The clock strikes the hours and halves by means of the countwheel system on a fine cast bell. The plates are flat at the bottom which is entirely consistent with the period and a nice touch. Signed on the dial C. Noseda a Marseille who is noted in Tardy as working in Marseille in the Empire period. French 1st Empire circa 1805-10. With entirely original ormolu. 16 inches high by 12.75 inches wide by 5.5 inches deeep ( 40 cm by 31.875 cm by 13.75 cm ).