Watch

Johannes van Ceulen

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Van Ceulen lived in a house opposite that of the Huygens family in The Hague and briefly cooperated with the great Dutch mathematician Christiaan Huygens. This watch incorporates the spiral spring balance invented by Huygens in 1675. Its application to the watch is a unique design by Van Ceulen, and we know that Christiaan’s brother, Constantijn, owned a watch with a similar movement in 1676. Dutch predilection for enameled watchcases had a long history. The enameled relief ornament on the side of the case of this watch closely resembles the work of the Paris goldsmith Josias Belle (1628–1695), though he is not known as an enamel painter. The two circular panels with narrative scenes from the Old Testament story of Isaac and Rebecca are separate elements. They are undoubtedly of French origin, but their authorship remains anonymous.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art