Longcase clock

The weight-driven, rectangular-framed movement of this clock is not unlike some of those found in Rome during the last quarter of the fifteenth century. Firsthand descriptions of these clocks appear in the manuscript of Paulus Almanus (Paul the German), a lay brother and practical clockmaker who recorded his impressions of clocks that he saw in Rome beginning about 1475. A fifteenth-century model [1] has been brought up to date in the Museum’s clock, also called a lantern clock in English, because of its perceived resemblance to a portable case for a light. It employs a pendulum in place of the foliot (or balance) for the regulation of its escapement that would have been found in a fifteenth- century clock, and an unequal-pin mechanism has been substituted for the older and more common count wheel to govern the striking of the hours.



In addition to hours and quarters, this clock strikes the previous hour on a lower-pitched bell before striking the first, second, and third quarters on a higher-pitched bell, a system known as grande sonnerie. Here, the grande sonnerie is employed in a four-times-six-hour division of the twenty-four-hour day, a division that was in use in eighteenth- century Italy.



The frame of the movement of the clock is made entirely of brass, with scalloped edges on the plates, pillars in the form of slender columns, and bars that are shaped to echo the architectural outlines of the columns. Cast finials, bun feet, and a handle for lifting the movement complete this extraordinary piece of clockmaking. The four brass wheels of the going train are regulated by a horizontal verge and short pendulum that ends in a bob shaped like a small bird. (It is likely that neither the pendulum shaft nor the bob is original to the clock.) Four wheels and a fly complete the striking train. The second wheel includes a double set of pins of unequal length, which controls the blows of the long-tailed hammers for two bells that are mounted on top of the hood and provide a visual display to accompany the arresting sound of the bells.



The dial plate, with applied rocaille-ornamented C-scrolls, is an exuberant example of Italian rococo design. The irregularly shaped piercing near the top permits a view of the urn-shaped finials mounted above the front pillars of the frame of the movement. These pierced openings flank a cartouche with a miniature painting of a bust-length figure of a woman (probably a later addition). A horizontal slot in a dial plate allows it to be pinned to the top plate of the movement. Below, the arc-shaped slot for the false pendulum permits an extension of the verge to swing back and forth with the movement of the pendulum. The applied chapter ring, introducing a note of sobriety, has easily distinguished roman numerals (I–XII) for the hours and Arabic numerals that label each five-minute interval.



The walnut hood of the case, with a break arch and gilded scrolling top, has console-shaped elements on both sides, which function as part of the doors that provide access to the movement. A glass-paneled door in the front gives access to the dial. Although the height of the case is more than eight feet, the trunk is made of different wood. It is relatively short, permitting a duration of only about fifteen hours, and lends support to the belief that the trunk is a later construction, perhaps made at two separate times. The hood, however, is original eighteenth-century cabinetry.



The clockmaker, Mario Gambelli (active 1766), is believed to have worked in Bologna, based on the Latinized name Marius Gambelli Bononiensis that appears on a lantern clock that also has an unequal-pin mechanism.[2] The location, Montalboddo, which is named on the Museum’s clock, cannot be found on a modern map of Italy. However, the mystery was solved when it was learned that in 1881 a town known as Montalboddo, near Ancona on the Adriatic coast, had decided to revert to its ancient Roman name of Ostra.[3]



The clock belonged to Prince Cesare Ludovico Ottoboni in Rome when it is believed to have been sold about 1932 or 1933. The Museum acquired the clock as part of a larger gift of Italian decorative arts from Madame Lilliana Teruzzi, a former opera singer who lived in New York for many years until her death in 1987.



Notes (For key to shortened references see bibliography in Vincent and Leopold, European Clocks and Watches in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015)



[1] See, for example, Leopold 1971, pp. 46–51, clock no. 2. See also Leopold 2003, pp. 665–66, 671; Leopold 2005b.

[2] Morpurgo 1974, p. 75. In a letter to Clare Vincent dated Feb. 25, 2002, Giancarlo Del Vecchio mentioned the Latinized name on the lantern clock. Its present location is

unknown.

[3] See http://www.comune.ostra.an.it. The authors are indebted to Del Vecchio for this identification.