Page 20 - joa-october-rev

By Bob Frishman

Horology

in Folk Art

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This article was first published in the NAWCC journal. This abbreviated version of the original article and has been
reprinted with permission from its author, Bob Frishman. To view and read the entire version, please click here.

ince the 13th-century invention of mechanical timekeeping, A circa 1840 portrait
clocks and watches have appeared in art, but never by accident or (Figure 2) could be mistaken
Sunintentionally. Even before the invention existed, artists’ for one of those larger
depictions of water clocks, sundials, and sandglasses also represented American portraits, but
fleeting time, human mortality, technological sophistication, owner instead, I viewed it in January
affluence, self-discipline, or even just the time of day. 2020 at the Tasmanian
Nearly 20 years ago, I began noticing horology in fine art from the Museum and Art Gallery in
past. A 1590 portrait by Annibale Carracci portrays a dark-skinned Hobart, Australia. The artist
woman in servant’s attire holding a small, ornate gilt-brass table clock. was William Buelow Gould
An 1812 Jacques-Louis David late-night portrait of Emperor (1801–53) who produced an
Napoleon, now at Washington, D.C.’s National Gallery of Art, artwork amazingly similar to
includes an elegant regulator standing with its visible high-precision many painted here. He was
gridiron pendulum. The surprisingly small painting of Salvador Dalí’s born in Liverpool and in 1827
melting clocks attracts crowds of viewers at The Museum of Modern was transported as a seven-year
Art in New York City. convict to Tasmania for having
by “force of arms stolen one
American Folk Art Horology coat.” He never returned to
Clocks and watches do appear in American folk art England or set foot in
often prominently, reinforcing a narrative or serving as America. The watch of Eliza
familiar symbols and metaphors. In those Biggs is tucked inside her
paintings, timepieces stand in corners, broad belt of the same green Figure 2
perch on mantels, hang on walls, dangle color as her fashionable dress.
from chains and fingers, and peek The looping black watch ribbon echoes the lace halo framing her face.
from pockets. Questions may arise about whether a shiny case was a watch or a
When they were made affordable, locket. However, before the introduction of inexpensive photographic
clocks and watches were highly portraiture in the mid-19th century, round watch-form lockets were
important possessions for uncommon ways of keeping a loved one’s visage close to the heart.
Americans in the 18th and 19th Miniature-painted portraits were more likely to be oval and open-faced,
centuries. Probate inventories while images inside covered lockets became
demonstrate that timepieces widespread only later in the Victorian era. In
were among the most valuable folk-art portraits where the object is fully out
household items. of the pocket, it is a watch.
In American folk art, a
watch or clock spoke loudly to Artwork with a Remembrance
early viewers, as they still can A second original artwork of mine was for
today. I own a few original sale in a booth adjacent to
examples, better than computer- mine at an antique show.
screen images or printed pages (Figure 3) Written in
and museum galleries. A recent pencil on the gilt frame’s
acquisition (Figure 1) is a circa wooden backboard is the
1840 miniature-on-ivory attributed notation, “Drawn by
by Philadelphia dealer Elle Shushan Chas. Rundlett of Ports.
to Samuel P. Howes (1806–81). NH.” A yellowed, stained
As in similar full-size folk-art portraits, paper is also affixed to
Howes’s miniature shows a pocket watch the back, on which is pen-
Figure 1 in a small front dress pocket, secured to a ciled, “This was drawn
very long gold chain draped around the Figure 3 by Chas. Rundlett of
sitter’s shoulders and curling below her pocket. Half of the case is Portsmouth NH from the
visible, whereas other images often reveal only the top bow, just hinting enclosed card.”
at a watch below. The “card,” (Figure 4) also attached to the
Figure 4

18 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles