© 1976 National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc. Reproduction prohibited without written permission.

A HOROLOGICAL VIEW OF /he

€azopean Aiaion

o/ a4mezica

EXHIBITION by Kenneth R. Pec rson Llletelancl. It tui&q,lso he sh,outn at the Grtmd Palais 'in Paris throxt gh

The Europaan Vision of Amet"ica, an in.ternotional Bicentennial erhi-

bition

assemltled,

Janrq/t''U 3, 1977.

bA guest ctqrator

Clnsfstirtg of 350 obi(cts in many dif fe,rent mediu,, thi,s erhibition traces Europaa.n attitudes towarrls America

(a promine.nt Brittsh alt't historian) and organized, at the Cleueland Lluseun of Art, has lteen on aieus at the National Galleey of A,rt in Waslr,ington o,s taell as in Hugh. Howzt,t'

Fig.

I

1t/, in. Hozen

tlrou,gh th.e uisual arts, from tlle time of Colunbus to the latter pu,t"t of th,e

n.i'n.ete

enth, centurg.T

Toble clock by Johonnes Soyller, co. 1660. cilt bronze, bross, silver, dnd sreel, ond5% in. {14 crn) squore. The Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of Jomes

111.4 cml high

Hyde Colologue No. ll8 (Brooklyn Museum D/6

photol

© 1976 National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc. Reproduction prohibited without written permission.

Fig, 2 Side view of Soyller clock showing

'Amenco ploque IBrooklyn Museum

I In the cclturies follorving thc discovery of the Ner.r' World, decorative ads objects wcre often embellished

a carefrce and fanciful Indian family casually takes a stroll in the forest,

surrounded by exotic accessories such as a hammock, monkey, and alligator. The three other plaques on the clock depict the other" conLinents, appropriate in an era when Baroque allegories of the Four Continents were popular. With the exceptiot of the reliefs, the case of this dock is simil,ar to that of another Sayller table clock formerly in the Strause Collection.2 Both

rvith motifs related to America. The European Vision of Arnerica provides both an artistic and historical context for these motifs, illustrating the various facts and ideas about the New World which Europeans assimilated over the years.

The images resulting fronr

the

growing alvareness of the new American continents releal many nriscon-

clocks have thc same cherub's-head spandrels and scroll-anrl-rnasque feet, the latter appearing in slightly enlargcd fornr or1 a Turnrclreiulr,r in the Wurttembu fgisrhes Larrlesmuseum in

North and South sarv Amerioa as a savage-infested rvildcrncss (and in some ways it \\'ar),

ceptions about America

:

pholo)

although many Europea.ns

Stuttga.rt.

many others held a deep fascination

The dial of the Brooklyn clocl(, rcflecting the period u,-hen the minute

rvith the freedon and unspoiled exoticism they sarv there. Onc of the silver relief plaques on a table clock by Johannes Sayller in

hand wras becoming fashionable, has two sunken tracks, the silvered outer track folloli'ed by the stubby calendar hand and the gilded inner track showing the age of the moon.a Just visi-

the Brookllm Museum illustrates this

latter viewpoint of the New World. In the "America" plaque (Figure 2)

579

© 1976 National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc. Reproduction prohibited without written permission.

Fig. 3 Movement detoil of Soyller clock (Brooklyn Museum photo)

ble behind the center albo:r

The strike hammer is on the upper right and the quarter-hour hammer is on the Iorver left. Also visiblc is the lvinding arbor for the quarter striking train, marked "V" for Vier-

in Figure

-l is the moon phase indicator, which consists of a circular aperture in the Zodiac disk moving above a gilded

r'ng having a non-concentric inner edge. This ring widens ,and diminishes as the aperture passes ovel it to simulate thc changing illumination of the moon. Al arrow at the edge of the moon aperture points to the inner

telsttmd.en. The three other rvinding arbors are maaked "G" fot Gangwerk

(going train), rtw" for Wecker (alarrn), and 'X" for the striking

train,

Sayller (1597-1668) worked from for whose city council he made his masterpiece, a once-fam-

to show the moon's age. The Zodiac disk itself is engraved rvith the lines of the trine, quartile, and sextile of the moon. the moon's sunken track

"aspect" being necessary astrological calculations.4

for

cE. 161? in Lrlm,

ous rolling ball clock completed in 1626

(now lost). He became a master of the guild in 1646, and in 1650 the city presented the Swedish general Doug-

certa,in

A detail of the movement, i.r'hich strikes the hours and quarters and has an alarm, is shown in Figu,re 3. Besides Lhe n,atu r:al istic piercing, chasing, and engraving, one catl see the balance wheel, count wheel, reg-

las l',-ith three of his timepieces. A watch by him is in the Kunsthistorisches }luseum in Vienna and another is in the Schatzkammer of the Residenz in Munich, to name only trto

ulator, and two of the three hammers.

survived.

examples

580

of his work

'lr,-hich have

© 1976 National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc. Reproduction prohibited without written permission.

In clocks of this type an enamelletl dial disk mo\,-es behind an arched opering to reveal the hours and minutes passing by a pointer. Such clocks

XI

The next item of horological inLere';t

in the exhibitiol, from thc Heim Grallery in Paris, is a terracotta model for a clock case sculpted ca. 1795 by Joseph-Charles Marin, a pupil of the

achieved some popularity during the

Directoire and Empire, but no cases made after Marin's model are known

more famous Clodion. (Sce Figure lt.) This model was copied after an en-

to exist.

graving by Ingouf, which in turn was done

after Jean-Jacques-Francois

Barbicr the Eld.er's

Rcvolution, European altists often idealized the leaders of the new na-

CarLaclian I nd.ians

at their Child's Gna.tte, a painting of 1781 lent to the exhibition by the

Musde des Beaux

Alts in

tion, and a more commercial intent is reflected in a George Washington clock m,ade for the American market, now in the Saint Louis Art Museum (Figure 5).

Rouen.s

The subject of this terracotta, related to the noble savage concept cul-

rent during the late

III

During and after the American

Le

eighteenth

The dial is signed

century, shorus hor.v the parenta.l and especially the maternal virtues of Indians t'ere idealized by Europcans. The newly bereaved mother Iets het milk florv on the child's grar,re, rvhich the sculptor sarv as housing a clock movemert of the type illustrated on pages 169 and 184 of La Pendu.le Ir,rancaise, Yol, IL

"Dubuc/Rue

llichel-le-Comte No. 33/ A PARIS", at which address he is knou'n to have worked from 1806 to 1817. This clock has been dated ca. 1810-1815, after the

repeal of the Embargo Act, but there is evidence that other clocks of this type $'ere being imported as early

as

1805.6

Fig. 4 Terrocoito model of clock cose by Joseph-Chorles Morin, cd. 1795. Heighi l2% or 32 cm. Cotologue No. 189 (Phoro courtesy Heim Gqllery, Porls) Da11

in.

© 1976 National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc. Reproduction prohibited without written permission.

Fig. 5 Woshinglon clock by Dubuc, cd. lBl0-lBI5. Gill bronze cose, height 191/s in. ar 48.5 cm. The Soint Louis Art Museum; given ononymously ln memory of Louise Volucloin Pulilzer. Colologue No- 225 (Photo by Soini Louis Arl Museum)

'fhe

casemaker,

as usual, is

a statue, but

un-

it

rvas apparently eopied

from an -Unglish engnaving of 1796 done after Tlumbull's Washinoton at the Bottle of T,t'enton (Metropolitan Museum version). The figure on the

known, but must have been steadily patronized by Dubuc, since the Washington clocks bearing the names of

other makers usually do not have cases of such high quality. One might imagine the figure of

clock differs from the

engraved

prototype only in the substitutioa of a rolled documcnt for the original spy-

Washinston to have been derived from

582

© 1976 National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc. Reproduction prohibited without written permission.

Fig. 6 Montel clock by Ridel, co. 1800, Cose of gil+ ond potinoted broFze .with rhine, slones, height 22ya in. ot 56 cm. The Metropoliton Museum of Art; gift of lhe Estote oI Jomes Hozen Hyde. Coiologue No. 245 (Photo by Nicholos Hlobeczy, The Clevelond Museum of Arti

glass. The relief plaque on the

base

is believed to depict Washington resigning his commission, and on the swag of drapery below the dial is Patrick Henry's tribute to the

general.T

583

IV

Novels inspired by America and its

inhabitants were lvidely read during the lale eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, since they painted

an often vivid picture of free

and

© 1976 National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc. Reproduction prohibited without written permission.

innocent "savages" Iiving

in a

later befalls Virginia, and on the rclief plaque below, p ayful putt/i gather food in a tropical lardscape, probably a rcference to the abundant focd supply described in the novel.s

wast

and strange u'ilderness. As a result of the rise of literacy experienced during this era, many decorative rarts objects ."vere based on Dopular novels such as these and made for a grow-ing middle

The movement. rvhlch indicates the dav of the month in the French Revolutionary calendar (Note the thirty date divisions) was made by Ridel, rvho is known to havc rvorked on the rue aux Ours in Paris around 1800. Figure ? shorvs the backplate (1?.5 cm

class market. One example is the mantel clock lent

by the lletropolitan lluseum of Ar"t and shown ir! Figu'ra 6. The dcsign of

this cltrck was inspir:ed by J--H. Bernadin de St. Pierre's Pl,ul et Virg'ttie

(1789), a novel set on the island of Mauritius; Though Paul and Virginia were born of F rench parents, they arc shown as native blacks, not only for exotic appeal but also because the early nineteenth century ascribed to

in dizr.meter), somewhat obscured by the tape rvhich holds the crttch in place durirlg transport. The size of the pendulum bridge is not particu-

noticeable from this camera angle, but it t'as madc 4.5 cm long in order for the pendulum to clear the waterfall and rock arch below the dial.

lar'ly

blacks the notrle qualities u'hich lsere formcrly reserved for lndians. Thcre is no hint of the tragic death which

Flg.

7

Bock view

of Ridel clock wiih cover removed (Nicholos Hlobeczy pholo) 584

© 1976 National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc. Reproduction prohibited without written permission.

Fig.8 Atdlo clock, ononymous French, co. l8l0-1815. Cose of gilt ond potinoted bronze, heighi l4 3/16 h. ot 36,1 cm. Mourice Cholver Collecijon, Pdris. Ccitologue No 272 (Photo

by Reunion des Musees Notionoux)

v

pez brought up as 'a Christian, but her mothel' has been forced to marry the Muscogulge chief. As Atala and Chactas escape into

Some early nineteenth century clock crases were pattcmed after episodes

)n Atala, a compelling and extremely

popula,r novel by Chateaubriand published in 1801.

the vast wilderness, falling

first

deeply

This tale is nanated by Chactas, Natchez Indian .who x'as taken in and educated bli a Spanish settler

in

more love, Atala reveals that she

had granted her mother's dying'rvish and taken an oath of virginityTo resolve this troublesome dilemma, Atala poisons herself, and is

a

named Lopez but returns to his native

buried by her would-be lover antl

habitat, the Florida wildenness.e After Chactas is captured by an

Father Aubry, her sp'iritual mentor. A clock lent by the Maurice Chalvet

alien band of 'wariors. the Muscogulges, he is led arvay to be bur-nt alive but is freed by Atala. The hero, ine is the half-Indian daughter of Lo-

in Paris (Figure 8) shows Atala untying Chactas, rvhile on the right the Muscogulge g'uard dozes. collection

o6D

© 1976 National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc. Reproduction prohibited without written permission.

Below the dial is the pyre of logs upon

which Chactas rvas to have

been

burnt, and between the palmettes on the base is a relief plaque depicting the burial of Atala. Chactas, preceded by a dog, carries Atala's supple body, while Father Aubry follows with ros-

ary

beads rand a spade. one similar clock is known,

At least

and another clock without the sleeping

gu.ard, different case construction, and different decorations flanking the

relief on the base is illusf,rated on page 17I o[ La PcncluLe F,rancaise, Vol.

II

(1962 edition).

Together the various horological items in the exhibition illustrate how American motifs, taken from sources both accurate and imaginative, were

adapted to yarious tJn)es of cases for use in upper or middle class interiors distantly removed from real life in the forests and mountains of the New World. References

6. Drepperd, Americqn Clocks and

Clockmakers, p. 744,

1. This article was based for the most part on Hugh Honour, The Euro-

7. An apparently identical clock is

peon Vision of America (The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1975), to which

in the Metropolitan

the catalogue numbers in the photo

8. A similar clock, with its waterfall missing, is illustrated in La Pendule Francaise, Vol. II, p. 172, ar:d others have beel on the market As

captions Tefer.

2. This clock was on view at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond until the entire Strause collection was removed and sold in the eariy 1940's. Eaillie erroneously

Hugh Honour points out, the various of this period having figures dressed in American Ildian featherwork are all thought to be associated w'rth PauI et Vi.rginie. Some clocks having authentic African figures are iflustrated in La Pendule F,rancaise, and Mr. Honour notes the significanee clocks

lists this and other clocks formerlv in beinE- in

that collection as still Richmond.

3. The hour hand of this cloek brass replacement.

is

Museum.

of a

Robinson Crusoe clock (,Erench, ca. 1810) having a distinctly African

a

Man Friday instead of the original Indian character. Hugh llonour,

4. Cf. Cecil Clutton end George Daniels, Clocks and, Watches CoIlection of tlle Worshipf uI Compang

The Neut Gold,en Land. (New York, 19751

of Clockmakers (London, 1975), p.85.

, p. 764.

9. Chateaubriand did visit

the

United States but never went farther south than Maryland, and so relied heavily upon his imagination for his descriptions of the novel's setting.

5. The terracotta is a reverse imase o.f Lhe painting, since it nas copi;d

directly after the engraving, which reversed the composition. 586