Beautiful French Empire ormolu mantel clock. This is an extremely well cast clock with the original fire gilt/mercurial ormolu in virtually mint condition. A charming, and original clock, showing a classically dressed woman holding a mask and playing a tambourine, the clock surmounted a winged helmet and musical instruments, symbolizing Thalia, one of the twelve Muses, who presided over festivals and pastoral and comic poetry. The white convex, enamel dial signed LS. Mallet and H. DE M. D. D'Orleans ( Horloger de Monsieur Duc D'Orleans), N794, with Roman numerals, and an eight day movement regulated by a silk susended pendulum and striking the hours and halves on a bell by means of the countwheel system. Bezel also numbered 794. This French empire clock was probably manufactured within a year or two of Napoleon's fall in 1815 in the Restoration period hence the reference to being the clockmaker to the Duke of Orleans. Louis Mallet was working from 1810 in the Rue J.-J. Rousseau and later at the Rue Neuve des Petits-Champs. 16 inches high