Watch

Nicolaus Rugendas the Younger

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Concealing a gilded brass sundial, encased in rock crystal, or studded with eighty-five rubies, these three watches (17.190.1603; 17.190.1579; 17.190.1520) exemplify the commodification of time into portable objects communicating great wealth, virtuoso craftsmanship, and the latest style. Their "invisible" clockworks were likened to the invisible powers understood to regulate the universe. The Dutch clock watch with sundial was designed to be admired from every angle. The French watch is distinguished by its difficult-to-produce cosses de pois (peapod) decoration. Transparent rock crystal—then highly valued and used to enshrine religious relics—elevated the miniaturized movement to a technical wonder. The ruby-covered watch by Nicolaus Rugendas, member of a prominent family of Augsburg clockmakers, is a refined example of the florid designs of Augsburg goldsmiths at the time.

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