Antiquity
Antiquity had given the passing hours a more graceful countenance. For the ancient Greeks, Death was the black-winged daughter of Night and the sister of Sleep, dressed in a dark star-strewn robe. Or they are walking or dancing maidens, bearing fruit and blossom branches in their arms, as seen in the Alter of the Twelve Gods at the Louvre Museum or in the frescoes of Pompeii. Leaving aside the precious illuminations reproducing Arabic clepsydras, let us remind ourselves that the oldest representations of mechanical clocks are found in the sculptures of the cathedrals of the Middle Ages. One among many others is a bas relief in the stalls of the Cathedral of Amiens where "the Angel brings Mary a meal".
A large appetite for symbolism had developed during the 14th century and the weight-driven clock of that time, still very rare and much admired, became the emblem of Sapience (or wisdom), as represented in various illuminated manuscripts. The idea was that a clock, with its fine gears and ringing chimes must, by its harmonious arrangement, proclaim the clemency of the Saviour and thus inspire devotion.
From the 16th until the 17th century, the clock would remain the emblem of Temperance and simultaneously of Death. Temperance is one of the four cardinal virtues of classical philosophy: an allegory frequently found in the carved decorations of goblets and ewers, but also adorning tombs such as that of François II in Nantes. Temperance holds a small Clock in her left hand and a bridle in her right. Another frequent symbol, the bridle symbolises reason which curbs man's passions. Sometimes the clock is replaced by a simple foliot or a sundial.
Temperance is often accompanied by a skull. How did people come to produce such jewels? Some served as emblems in several lay orders such as the Knights of Jerusalem; an example of this can be seen in one of the portraits of Theobald von Erlach in the Historical Museum of Bern where this sombre individual is holding a small skull and a palm in his hand. Then, around 1600, at a time when fantasy reigned supreme in several arts, people came up with the idea of presenting genre jewellery carved from ivory or executed in noble metals such as gold or silver, and even in rock crystal. Just one step away from making watches in this fashion.
But let's return to symbols proper. An equally ancient source is found in tapestries which frequently feature these small iron weight-driven clocks decorated more or less elaborately. In 1939, splendid Flemish tapestries by Jean de Maubeuge depicting the symbols of Temperance and "The battles between Vices and Virtues" were put on show at the Prado Exhibition in Geneva, on loan from the Madrid National Palace.
These miniatures are a rich documentary source of the first pendulum clocks, some of which have been reproduced in the book by the excellent author, Alphonse Wins, entitled "Clocks through the ages". Symbolism would continue to be very much in evidence in the centuries that followed.
Paole Veronese (1528-1588) portrays Virtue holding a watch and striking down Vice. We can also admire in the famous stalls of the Church of St-Bertrand de Comminges (at the foot of the Pyrenees) a representation of Virtue holding this same object. The child Jesus is shown in the arms of the Virgin Mary, flanked by an angel and a shepherd, beating time on the raised gong of a small clock, to announce the advent of a new age. We are shown this in an engraving from the late 15th century, at the threshold of an era when the clock, and the recently invented watch, would occupy a place in reality among men and objects, sometimes as a curiosity or novelty or, better still, as a happy addition to artistic endeavour.
Because no sooner had they gained a foothold in homes than clocks were ornately embellished just like every other major item of furniture. These timepieces, which belonged at first only to sovereigns or lords, were sometimes fashioned from precious metals to which rubies and pearls were exceptionally added. The same would apply to early watches.
The title makes it clear: it is not a question of the application of art to horology, but of Horology in Art, in other words art enhanced by the contribution from the initially precious artefacts of horology and horometry.
