Clock, Part of a Five Piece Clock Garniture
Andre´ Romain Guilmet
Object Label
Composed of newly made machine parts, this clock garniture (a set of decorative objects for display) is an overt celebration of the machine and industrialization. Just a generation earlier, political reformers and writers such as Charles Dickens were preoccupied with the negative aspects of the Industrial Revolution, including the blight of polluted, overcrowded cities. By 1885, as the Eiffel Tower rose in Paris, a tamer, less menacing vision of the factory and machine had emerged; industrial design could now function as the emblem of a capital city or—as here—as a collectible for an entrepreneur. If one turns the base of the large candelabra, the cogs engage and the candle holders move up and down.
Caption
Andre´ Romain Guilmet (1827–1892). Clock, Part of a Five Piece Clock Garniture, ca. 1880. Nickel-plated metal, glass, paper, mercury, height: 15 1/2 x 8 x 8 in. (39.4 x 20.3 x 20.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Marcus S. Friedlander, by exchange, 2009.49.1.
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Manufacturer
Title
Clock, Part of a Five Piece Clock Garniture
Date
ca. 1880
Geography
Place manufactured: Paris, France
Medium
Nickel-plated metal, glass, paper, mercury
Classification
Dimensions
height: 15 1/2 x 8 x 8 in. (39.4 x 20.3 x 20.3 cm)
Markings
unmarked
Credit Line
Gift of Marcus S. Friedlander, by exchange
Accession Number
2009.49.1
Frequent Art Questions
The bottom of this piece looks like it does something. Does it?
Indeed it does! When the inner wheel at the bottom of this large candlestick is turned, all of the cogs and gears move and the candle holders go up and down, and the central candle holder twirls around.I love these! They are great examples of the futuristic designs developed during the nineteenth century. The industrial and modern world that was developing at the time greatly influenced artists, who captured that spirit in their work.Thanks! My teen boys thought they were cool. I thought the bulby thing at the bottom might have been an ashtrays.I can completely understand why these attracted your boys. They are very reminiscent of the a popular contemporary science fiction genre called steam punk, which plays up the 19th century's obsession with all things industrial and mechanical.
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