Design for a Clock

Jean François Forty

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Jean François Forty specialized in designs for works in metal. He made designs which could be produced by gold- and silversmiths in precious metals, but he also designed larger works to be executed in wrought iron work such as gates and balustrades for stairs and balconies. This drawing shows a design for a small clock with a horizontal rotating dial, presented as a ring around a neo-classical vase. The drawing was to become the title page to a print series of six clock designs by Forty but, as the executed title page shows, it was not yet Forty’s final thought on the design. In the end result, the proportions of the vase have changed to accommodate the added portrait medallion, and the overall design has become more elaborate in its decorations.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art