Day 213 - Watches and snuffbox in the Neoclassical gallery





 


September 14, 2020

A placard in gallery 554 describes the Gothic and  Renaissance Revival movements that developed between 1800 and 1850 as, in part, a reaction to the uncertainties and uneasiness created by the Industrial Revolution and the growth of imperial ambitions.  According to the explanation, objects reflecting and glorifying the past and its artistic traditions served as a source of comfort and national pride in a rapidly changing world.  It's interesting to think that the tension between, on the one hand, living in an environment full of promise but also of unknowns and, on the other, wanting to  return to a supposedly superior (and highly romanticized) past - a tension that dominates today's politics - was present in the artistic realm two centuries ago. Perhaps this tension has existed throughout human history.

Some of the objects in the gallery clearly summon up past artistic traditions.  For instance, a tall prie-dieu of oak and pine and veneered with other woods, made in Vienna in 1855, evokes a Gothic edifice with its many skinny spires. (Actually, for me it evokes the V and A or the Houses of Parliament - both examples of the Gothic Revival!)  One of the oddest items is a large model of King Solomon's Temple, complete with the sacrificial altar in its forecourt.  According to the label, the model, made of gilded wood, silver, brass, and bronze, was based on Biblical specifications - but its designer also gave the edifice a large dome, omitted from the Biblical text,  that may instead have been inspired by the Dome of the Rock. The model was carved and gilded in London in 1883-  a quarter-century after The Origin of Species rocked Biblical accounts of the Creation.

Many objects in the gallery, though, don't seem to me to have anything to do with the Gothic or Renaissance Revivals and are simply objects of great beauty designed for acquisition by the wealthy. In particular, I'm taken by a display case of lovely watches, most of them dating between about 1815 and 1860 and made in Geneva (including four watches with enamel portraits of Czars Nicholas I and Alexander II). It's hard to choose favorites, but I especially like a large gold and enamel watch, perhaps two inches in diameter, with a delicate design of pastel florals against a rich red ground, all surrounded by a light blue rim and a circlet of tiny pearls. An exception to the general rule of Swiss fabrication, the watch was made in London around 1820. Another favorite watch, this one Swiss-made around 1830, is made of gold and set with tiny pave' pearls in a swirling pinwheel design.

And how could I not mention a gold, enamel, and diamond snuff box, about three inches long,  an inch and a half wide, and an inch high, made in Geneva about 1820? Its gold base is engraved with a Greek key design, wile its black enamel top is adorned with a gold tracery of leaves and inset with diamonds. But the piece de resistance is a tiny multihued bird at the center of the box. When wound up, the box plays music and the bird flutters its wings. Oh, those Swiss mechanics!

And I would be even more remiss if I failed to note that, en route to the gallery, I passed two temporary exhibitions that will be well worth a return, one on the art of the Sahel and one on cultural exchanges in the Caribbean.  It's yet another reminder of the wonderful resources we have at our disposal!


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