Mantel clock with seated woman

Patinated and gilded bronze; height 43.5 cm; width 30 cm; depth 11.5 cm.
France, 2nd quarter of 19th century.
Clock case rectangular in plan, on 4 legs. Base separated by a gilded cornice into two parts; the front wall of the upper part with an appliqué in which musical instruments (syringa, flute), flaming torches, laurel wreath and feather cross each other - interwoven with a ribbon. Higher up, a mechanism built into a pedestal, on which sits a female figure in an antique-style robe, with the attributes of the art of writing; to the right, a repeated element from the applique: a full-figured laurel wreath and a feather. Dial with Roman hour division, banded with laurel; mechanism with hour and half-hour system, with pendulum suspended on silk thread (practiced until 1860).