COMPLIMENTARY COPY
VOL. 44, NO. 2 FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013
Published Weekly By Joel Sater Publications www.antiquesandauctionnews.net
As The Old Year Winds Down, TFC Starts The New Year With Precision And Splendor oday the question “What time is it?” is quickly answered by looking at any number of devices around us, from watches to phones to computers. For millennia, however, determining the correct time was not so simple. In fact, it was not until the late thirteenth century that the first mechanical clocks were made, slowly replacing sundials and water clocks. It would take several
T
Thomas Mudge (17151794), chaser and casemaker John Gastrill (active 1757-1766), Gold Repousée Pocket Watch, 1757, D.: 1-3/4 inches, The Frick Collection, New York, Bequest of W i n t h r o p Kellogg Edey; photo: Michael Bodycomb.
in the homes of a few wealthy individuals. The existence of mechanical clocks was made possible by an invention known as an escapement. Falling weights (and later springs) provided the energy to
this time were regarded as objects of curiosity; their principal function was to display the wealth and erudition of their owners and to entertain guests at banquets. The earliest example in the exhibition that incorporates an escapement, a coiled
spring, and a fusee is a gilt-brass power the table clock made in clock’s mech- A i x - e n - P r o v e n c e anism, while the David Weber (active 1623/24escapement 1704), Gilt-Brass and Silver regulated the Table Clock with Astronomical Calendrical Dials, probarate at which and 1653, height: 23-3/8 inches, that energy bly The Frick Collection, New was delivered to the York, Bequest of Winthrop hundred years before mechanical timekeepers became oscillator (at first a simple bal- Kellogg Edey; photo: reliable and accurate. A special ance and later a pendulum). Michael Bodycomb. exhibition, “Precision and The introduction of the Splendor: Clocks and Watches at escapement gradually caused the about 1530 by de The Frick Collection” on view at shift away from time-finding Pierre the revered New York City institu- devices (sundials) and time-mea- Fobis. One tion from January 23, 2013, suring devices (water clocks) to of the most through February 2, 2014, timekeepers (clocks and later famous French explores the discoveries and inno- watches) as advances in science clockmakers of his time, Fobis is still recognized today for his vations made in the field of horol- and technology were made. In the fifteenth century durable and highly refined moveogy from the early sixteenth to the nineteenth century. The exhibition, progress in metallurgy made pos- ments. The Frick’s clock is among sible the production of Fobis’s rare surviving works and is to be shown in the new Portico springs, which ultimately led one of the earliest extant springGallery, features eleven clocks and to the development of driven timekeepers. Its complex fourteen watches from the portable clocks powered by a movement is set into a typical sixWinthrop Kellogg Edey bequest, coiled spring rather than a teenth-century French clock case, along with five clocks lent by the weight. The origins of the inspired by classical architecture collector Horace Wood Brock that spring-driven clock are and ornament rediscovered durhave never before been almost as obscure as ing the Renaissance. Except seen in New York the invention of the for the small dial in blue City. Together, w e i g h t - d r i v e n enamel, the hexagonal giltthese objects brass case is covered c l o c k . chronicle the entirely with acanthus Evidence evolution over scrolls, urns, winged suggests the centuries of heads, and tiny figures t h a t more accurate whose limbs morph into t h e and complex elegant, intertwining idea timekeepers foliage. The initials and illustrate “IM” found on the aesthetic each face may developments refer to the origthat reflected inal owner, perEurope’s latest haps Jean styles. Martin, who was Chavannes le Jeune (active instrumental in circa 1650-1660), enameling attributed to Pierre bringing Renaissance Huaud (1612-1680), Gold and Enamel Pendant architecture to France. Watch, circa 1660, D.: 1-1/4 inches, The Frick Pierre de Fobis Collection, New York, Bequest of Winthrop Kellogg Edey; photo: Michael Bodycomb. (1506-1575), Gilt-Brass Table Clock, circa 1530, H.: 5 inches, The Frick came from Italy. Time Keeping During Collection, New York, In the early 1400s The Renaissance Bequest of Winthrop Kellogg It’s not known when, where, or Filippo Brunelleschi and by whom the first mechanical others made drawings of spring- Edey; photo: Michael Bodycomb. Germany was a leading proclock was invented, but by the driven devices that made the mid-fifteenth century several invention of the portable time- ducer of clocks during the European towns had a monumen- keeper possible. One of these Renaissance, and, by the late sixtal timekeeper, powered by falling devices was the fusee, a cone- teenth century, Augsburg was an weights, incorporated into the shaped spindle that equalizes the important center of their manufacarchitecture of a church or public diminishing force of a coiled ture. The gilt-brass and silver table hall. Smaller versions of weight- spring as it unwinds. Ornate and clock made by David Weber driven clocks could also be found prohibitively expensive, clocks at around 1653, most likely for his
admission to the Augsburg clockmakers’ guild, exemplifies his expert i s e .
luck and plentitude; and narcissi remind us of fleeting youth and rebirth. The base depicts the four elements - air, water, fire, and earth symbolizing cosmic order and harmony. The complex mechanism includes seven dials that provide astronomical, calendrical, and horary information. The prominent central dial is an astrolabe with twentyone star pointers and two concentric hands, which
Pierre de Fobis (1506-1575), GiltBrass Table Clock, circa 1530, height: 5 inches, The Frick Collection, New York, Bequest of Winthrop Kellogg A l t h o u g h relate to Edey; photo: Michael W e b e r the sun Bodycomb.
and moon. The smaller dial beneath it is an alarm. The Development Of The Watch Watches were introduced in the middle of the sixteenth century following the refinement of spring-driven clocks. Like the early clocks, the first watches were inaccurate, valued primarily as luxury items and fashion accessories by men and women of distinction. Just as clocks were unreliable until the pendulum clock was invented in 1653, watches became more accurate only after 1675 when the balance spring was introduced. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the most sought-after watches were decorated with enamels to resemble miniature paintings on paper, parchment, or ivory. A stunning example is an early balancespring watch made in Switzerland about 1685. The movement by Henry Arlaud is set into a AbrahamLouis Breguet lavish enamel case (1747-1823) and by Pierre Huaud II. sents the Antoine-Louis Breguet Both men were the Roman goddess (1776-1858), Gold and Silver sons of French Fortuna and serves Double-Dial Desk Watch Protestants who had Decimal and fled France and as a reminder of the Showing capriciousness of Traditional Time, circa 1795- established themlife. Because of this 1807, D.: 2-7/8 inches, The selves in Geneva in Collection, Bequest of the early seventeenth association, Fortuna Frick Kellogg Edey; was often used to Winthrop photo: Michael Bodycomb. century. The Huaud family popularized adorn timekeepers, even as their orderly mechanisms the practice of decorating watchworked to undermine her. Floral cases with miniature paintings cremotifs decorating the clock elabo- ated with opaque colored enamels rate on its symbolic message: car- over a ground of pure white enamnations, like Fortuna, allude to el. A painting or a print usually capriciousness; tulips symbolize (Continued on page 2) chose a popular form for the clock’s case, he demonstrated his imagination and hand skills in its finely worked surfaces. The tower, composed of two tiers, rises to the formidable height of nearly two feet. Balancing precariously atop a winged sphere, a female figure repre-