Italian Night Clock

Italian nightclock from the end of the 17th century.

Fruit wooden case, black, height 79 cm, width 59 cm, depth 24 cm, with lapis lazuli marquetry.

The dial has a painting of the birth of Jezus and beneath it there is a drawer in which you can put the key to wind the clock up. The movement with a barrel and fusee runs for a day and actuate the discs with the hours. One used to put a candle on a board at the outside of the clock, so one could see what time it as in the night. Now the board has been placed in the clock and you can put an electric light.

Lapis lazuli is a rock that has been used for 7000 years. People have attributed different abilities to the stone like wisdom, enlightenment, perception. It would help to clear your head, it would also help your memory and intellectual abilities and so on.