41,400 CHF
Japanese, circa 1830. Very fine, lacquered, weight-driven single-hand hour and half-hour striking Yagura-dokei lantern clock with Japanese calendar, on a stand. Rectangular top lacquered and painted in gilt flowers andbirds, gilt shaped base and top, quadrefoil pedestal on squarestepped plinth, lacquered and painted en suite, brass move-menthousing engraved with passion fruits. Silver ring withJapanese hours on the inside, starting from 9 and going coun-terclockwise,outside Japanese Zodiacal signs associated withthese hours, inner decimal division, central brass hour indica-tionplate revolving once every 24 hours, blued steel piercedhand, the whole on brass plate engraved with passion flowerswith two apertures for Japanese calendar indications of Junishito the left and Jukkan to the right. Three-tier, verge escape-mentwith double escape wheel and two brass foliots withadjustment weights, both verges suspended by a silk cord,count plate on the back, striking on a bell at the top of theclock.Dim: Height 77 cm, brass housing (including the ball) 19 cm. Notes The Japanese method of time-telling was based on the natural day, from dawn to dusk. Day and night were each divided into six seg-ments of different length. The dial begins with number "9" and goes backwards (9,8,7,6,5,4), because the Japanese considered that 9 was a magic number. Since a clock was an important and mys-terious object in itself, it was thought desirable that the mystical number be present in every hou Read more…
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2004-04-24
