Pair-case watch

Thomas Tompion

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Tompion, who was the first to number his watches, began to do so about 1682. The numbers referred to entries in his business ledgers and allowed him to keep track of the various components of a given watch. Unfortunately, none of his ledgers survives.

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