F. Barbedienne, a French marble and bronze mantel clock: the eight-day duration movement having a silk-suspension and striking the hours and half-hours on a bell with an outside countwheel, the round silvered engine-turned dial having black Roman hour numerals, blued steel spade hands and with a cast gilt-brass bezel, the variegated mustard marble case having bronze acanthus-leaf mounts to the stepped base all surmounted by an ormolu figure depicting a semi-clad classical female, the rear of the bronze mount stamped F. Barbedienne, height 39cms.* Biography Ferdinand Barbedienne, born August 1810 in Calvados, moved to Paris becoming a dealer in wallpaper. In 1838 he went into partnership with Achille Colas who had invented a machine capable of producing miniature replicas of statues. Barbedienne died in 1862 with the business continued by his nephew Gustave Leblanc.