Celestial globe with clockwork; Circa 1579; Culture: Austrian, Vienna; Maker: Gerhard Emmoser (German, active 1556–84); Medium: Case: partly gilded silver and gilded brass; Movement: brass and steel. Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 (photo: courtesy of The MET)
The New Year is filled with grand surprises and for watch lovers and historian buffs of time – If you are planning to visit the Big Apple anytime soon — you will love this one. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The MET) has a huge display recently installed that will have you marveling. The Luxury of Time: European Clocks and Watches exhibit opened in late November and will run through March 27, 2016.
The exhibit draws on the Museum’s extensive holdings of French, English, Dutch, German, and Swiss horological instruments from the 16th through the 19th centuries. These incredible decorative clocks and watches were acquired primarily as objects of art or specialized pieces of furniture, and now they come together in the Wrightsman Exhibition Gallery. Several of them are incredibly important from a technical stand point.
Longcase astronomical regulator clock, ca. 1768-70; Clockmaker: Ferdinand Berthoud (1727-1807); Case maker: Balthazar Lieutaud (ca. 1720-1780, master 1749). Case: ebony veneered on oak, with gilt-bronze mounts; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection, 1982 (Photo, courtesy of The MET)
The exhibition will include objects that have not been on display for almost a decade, and will include some highlights from the Museum’s Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, such as Berthoud’s ebony and gilt-bronze Longcase astronomical regulator clock and a Lepaute gilt-bronze mantel clock. A recently acquired work—an automaton clock made in Nuremberg in the early 17th century depicting Urania, muse of astronomy—will be a highlight of the installation.
For those who may have missed some of the finest historic watch exhibitions of 2015 – this is one to definitely take the time to see.
