Clock watch

Michael Nouwen, or Nouen

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Nouwen was a member of a Flemish family of clockmakers that originated in ’s-Hertogenbosch in Brabant, now a part of The Netherlands. Like the Vallins, he was probably a refugee from political and religious strife. The front plate of Nouwen’s movement is split in two, an unusual feature that makes it possible to remove the wheels of one train of the watch without disturbing the wheels of the other. These clock watches also typically have pierced cases so one could hear the striking of the bell, which is attached to the inside of the case. The intricate piercing and engraving of the metalwork makes this watch as much a piece of jewelry or a display piece as it is a timekeeper. Watches of the period, though nearly always technically cutting-edge, were far from accurate and lacked a minute hand. The female figure in the center of the dial, reminiscent of Flemish personifications of Summer, wears a crown of grain stalks and carries a cornucopia in her right arm.

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