Wall Clock
clockmaker
Unknown
Date18th century
Place MadeJapan, East Asia
MediumLacquered wood, with gold decoration and copper alloy fittings
Dimensions40.5 cm (15 15/16 in.)
ClassificationsFurnishings
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberF11w9
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryThis wall clock was purchased from the antiquities dealer Yamanaka and Company. Founded by Yamanaka Sadajirō in New York City, Yamanaka and Company quickly became the preeminent Japanese art dealer beginning in the late 19th century and extending through the first half of the 20th century, opening branches all over the world, including Boston. This clock is made of lacquered tagayasan wood, an "ironwood" known for its strength. Among the gold flowers and animals decorating the surface, there is also a copper alloy fitting at the top of the clock with a design of passion flowers, or as they are known in Japan, "clock flowers" due to the circular shape and regularity of the petals. Interestingly, this wall clock does not, however, have a circular face, but rather a rectangular face with thirteen plaques set vertically into the wood; it was designed to tell traditional Japanese time, a system in which daytime and nighttime are divided into six unequal periods that varied with the seasons.
Id718808
Last Updated8/14/24
EmbARK ObjectID11492
Source ID693
