Watch stand

Tournai

ca. 1750–60 · Soft-paste porcelain · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

When not being worn on an individual, a pocket watch could be placed on a stand, transforming it from a personal item into a household one, like a mantel clock. Watch stands were produced at porcelain and pottery factories throughout Europe and were also made in other materials, such as gilded bronze and wood. First appearing in the seventeenth century, they gained popularity in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when watch ownership became more common.

Artist

Tournai

Date

ca. 1750–60

Medium

Soft-paste porcelain

Culture

possibly Belgian, Tournai

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Gift of R. Thornton Wilson, in memory of Florence Ellsworth Wilson, 1954