Cross-shaped pectoral clock. Silver, 17th century. It has undergone restorations. Portable watch in the shape of a cross with an openwork exterior showing figurative Christian scenes and the movement inside, a gold-banded dial with Roman numerals for the hours, a single hand and an engraved decoration around it, also with a religious theme; on the back, you can see the back of the movement, with a delicate, also openwork decoration based on plant motifs reminiscent of classicism, and a band on the case of the piece with simplified plant elements. On the outside, we find on one side the crucified Christ, flanked by the Virgin Mary and Saint John, and the figures surrounded by a delicate composition based on vegetal scrolls, with an angel's head at the foot of the piece. The other side shows the Resurrection of Jesus, with Christ emerging from the empty tomb and the soldiers on either side, again with scrolls and above another angel's head. On the edges there are vegetal and floral elements, accompanied by figures placed within plaques. On the inside, and flanking the clock face, we are shown the Original Sin below and the Expulsion from Paradise, with Adam on one arm of the cross that forms the clock, Eve on the other and the angel on top, brandishing the flaming sword (thus following, in part, the biblical text). There are several known antique portable clocks which have been given a shape other than the usual one for such objects. Thus, although the best known is the skull-shaped clock in the Metropolitan Museum (movement from c. 1650 by Isaac Penard, case from c. 1810-1820), and bearing in mind that they were not at all the usual type, there are several examples in the shape of a Latin cross. Let us recall, for example, some of those preserved in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford: one attributed to Cornelius Stimmer (active c. 1660) has Christ Crucified on the front, flanked by the four Evangelists; another by Barthélemy Cheuillard (active 1636-1677) dated c. 1650 has an uncut metal case and engraved decoration on the interior; Other examples, such as one dated c. 1660 or another by Didier Lalemand (active 1675-1686) dated c. 1660 or 1630, follow the usual pattern for such extraordinary examples, which is to have the outer case made of rock crystal. This is also the case with the clock by Charles Bobinet, probably painted by Werner Hassel and dated to the mid-17th century, which is kept in the Metropolitan Museum, and with the one in the British Museum in London by Jean Rouseeau the Younger, which is dated between 1640 and 1650 and was made in Switzerland.
· Size: 7x5,5x2,5 cms
ANTIQUES
Ref.: ZF1032
