Table or bracket clock

Table or bracket clock

Thomas Tompion

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This portable clock has a repeating mechanism allowing it to strike on the quarter hour and hour, a valuable feature in darkness. Except for special commissions, the cases of Tompion table clocks tended to be rather sober. Where ebony was used, the clockmaker relied on the pleasing effect of the plain black surface to contrast with the gold and silver of the dial and applied hardware (the vase-shaped finials were added by a later owner).

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Table or bracket clockTable or bracket clockTable or bracket clockTable or bracket clockTable or bracket clock

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.