Watch with alarm

Nicholas Vallin

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The son of the Flemish clockmaker John Vallin (ca. 1535–1603), Nicolas became the leading clock- and watchmaker in London. Both John and Nicolas emigrated to England, probably shortly before 1590 and undoubtedly as the result of political troubles in The Netherlands. Both father and son died in the London plague epidemic of 1603. The watch, which has a verge escapement, runs a little more than twenty-four hours per each winding, and originally it struck the hours in passing (a single blow on the bell at each hour).

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