Watch

Simon Hackett

ca. 1632–40 · Case: enamel, glass, gold, and gilded brass; Movement: gilded brass and steel, partly blued · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

“How goes your watches ladies? What’s o’clock now? First Lady: By mine full nine. Second Lady: By mine a quarter past.” These three lines by the Jacobean playwright Thomas Middleton (d. 1627) sum up the unreliability of pre-balance-spring watches, which for the most part were more useful as jewelry than as timekeepers. The case of this example displays panels of the rare French émail en resille sur verre, a technique for embedding enameled gold designs in colored glass. Hackett was a goldsmith before becoming a member of the London Clockmakers’ Company in 1632, and he may have imported the case himself.

Artist

Simon Hackett

Date

ca. 1632–40

Medium

Case: enamel, glass, gold, and gilded brass; Movement: gilded brass and steel, partly blued

Culture

British, London movement with French case

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917