Clock with the goddess Artemis

Clock with the goddess Artemis
Case in gilded bronze. Machine in iron, steel and crystal; porcelain dial with painted Roman numerals. French school of the late eighteenth century.

Measures: 40 x 34 x 14,5 cm.

Clock made in France at the end of the XVIII century, and among the great variety of motifs that decorated these time measuring machines, this one shows the Hellenic deity Artemis, goddess of wild animals, protector of virginity, resolute before births and illnesses of women, among other qualities. From her situations with other gods, we believe that this representation of Artemis corresponds to the stage of her youth, narrated by the scholar Callimachus (310 BC-240 BC). B.C. ), due to the appearance of elements that relate the goddess to that period: thus, the presence of the bow that holds her left arm in company of an arrow at the feet of the deer, refer to the time of her childhood when on the island of Lipara (Messina, Italy) she obtained these weapons to be a hunter; or when she visited Pan, demigod of the forests, shepherds and flocks, a situation present in the clock both in the eight-reed syringe or musical flute of Pan that appears next to the feet of Artemis, and in the dog of the high relief that represents the dogs that he gave her. The appearance of the large deer, slain over the clockwork and the moment in which Artemis bends her deer, central detail of the low frieze, represent her capture of deer to become draught animals for her chariot.

Machinery in perfect working order after cleaning and adjustment of its components by a professional master watchmaker. With pendulum and key.

Reference Bibliography:

Kjellberg, Pierre: ENCYCLOPÉDIE DE LA PENDULE FRANÇAISE DU MOYEN AGE AU XXe SIÈCLE. Paris, Les Éditions de l'Amateur, 1997, p. 335, plate G.

Medidas:

34 x 40 cm