PXL_20240329_225100055

Night Clock

Italian (Florence), 1704-05

Case and hard-stone mosaics by Giovanni Battista Foggini (Italian, 1652-1725); woodwork by Leonard van der Vinne (Flemish, active in Italy 1659-d. 1713); mechanism by Francesco Papillion (Italian, active around 1700); gilt-bronze figures attributed to Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi (Italian, 16 56-1740); in the workshop of the Galleria de Lavori in pietre dure (Florence)

Ebony; gilt bronze; semiprecious stones including chalcedony, jasper, lapis lazuli, and verde d’Arno

This luxurious clock forms an architectural facade decorated with colorful hardstone motifs, including a blue parakeet and white hippocamp along the central axis, small monsters emerging out of the floral patterns, and fruit swags along the sides. The boar at the top is based on an ancient sculpture in the Medici collection in Florence. The dial has numerals that were once illuminated from behind with an oil lamp. This timepiece was a collaboration of skilled artists working for the Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo III de’ Medici (ruled 1670-1723).