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| Index No. A7157 | Japanese Striking Table Clock |
| A rare early 19th Century Japanese hour striking table clock in a silver, ivory and mulberry wood case. Three tier gilt circular movement. The lowest tier formed by a European style full plate gilt fusee verge watch movement. Finely pierced and engraved bridge cock with steel coqueret, plain three arm gilt balance with blue steel spiral hairspring. Pentagonal baluster pillars. The middle section contains the striking train with going barrel and the extension to wind the watch. Under the dial the mechanism to control the strike train allowing the clock to strike on a bell situated below the movement. Gilt dial with twelve adjustable rectangular markers for the hours. Fixed pierced blue steel hand, the hour markers revolving, brass extensions from them letting off the strike train as they pass. The movement covered by a bayonet fit decoratively pierced and engraved silver sleeve with a glazed hinged bezel over the dial. Mounted above an ivory stand of two circular discs joined by four ivory scroll legs. Mulberry wood case glazed on four sides and the top. Below each glass pierced brass fretwork cover rectangular apertures to allow the bell to be heard clearly. Vertically sliding door allows access to the clock which sits in a circular sink below which is a small draw holding the key. | ||
| Anonymous | Japanese | |
| Circa | 1820 | |
| Diameter | 62 mm | ||
| Japanese table clocks with horizontal dials are rare, the majority of Japanese clocks being either of lantern type, bracket or pillar. The Japanese method of telling the time originated in China and was based on the natural day from dawn to dusk. Day and night were each divided into six segments of differing length. The day segments, for example, were longer in summer and shorter in winter. For this reason the hour markers had to be adjustable. The dial begins with the number "9" and goes backwards 9,8,7,6,5,4, because the Japanese considered that 9 was a magic number. It was desirable to have the mystical number present in every hour, as well as to directly attribute it to midnight and noon. The other hours were multiplied by the number 9 and the second digit of the product was taken as the clock hour for example, hour 2 was in fact 8 because 2 x 9 = 18. Traditional Japanese hours were named after the Chinese zodiacal signs, midnight bottom of the dial being "rat", midday top of the dial "horse", sunrise to the left "hare", sunset to the right "cock", and so on. |
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