The Astronomy Lesson French Empire Mantel Clock

This magnificent French Empire ormolu mantel clock features the iconic Neoclassical genre scene often referred to as "The Astronomy Lesson." A popular motif during this period, Emperor Napoleon owned a similar clock made by master bronzier Jean-André Reiche in 1807—marking it as a quintessential objet d'art that defined the aristocratic tastes of the Empire period. This clock features a governess and her young pupil during an astronomy lesson. Both in elegant period dress and deep in scholarly thought, the two women consider the star chart before them with an astrolabe looming overhead, an ancient instrument used as a physical model of heavenly bodies. The astronomer's student consults a book in her hand, with a stack of several more lying in wait on the floor behind her. Women were often used as the subject in clocks where learning or technology was involved during this period, indicating the feeling of emancipation for women in the new France after the revolution. With no detail sp