M.G.L. 279

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 67; Larghezza: 48; Profondità: 18

cassa in pero ebanizzato intagliato, bronzo fuso, mostra in rame dipinto

Un'ostinata illusione: la misurazione del tempo e gli orologi Luxoro - Genova - 2004

In the vast and important collection of clocks in the Museum, some specimens signed by the Nordic watchmaker Giovanni Pietro Callin, who was active in Genoa in the second half of the seventeenth century, stand out. This example, complete with its original mechanism and decorated with gilded bronzes, presents a face in painted copper, depicting a fine landscape and animated by a pair of cherubs holding a flowery wreath. The clock, thanks to the signature on the mechanism, can be traced back to the activity of the Callin workshop. Giovanni Battista is probably one of Pietro Callin's sons because his signature appears in full on a clock that recently appeared on the antiques market and can be dated to the early 18th century. The painted exhibition, only the upper part with the putti bearing garlands of flowers, has been dubiously referred to Giovanni Lorenzo Bertolotto. Night-day clock with a case topped by a pediment with three figures of cherubs in gilded cast bronze. Four bronze satyrs are placed at the corners of the base, which features a central decorative element formed by an embossed and saddled bronze plate. On the display there is a trapezoidal opening on which the night-time hour can be read, while the dial for daytime hours is painted white with Roman numerals and features a gilded metal alarm clock dial inside. The hour hand is in gilded metal, while the alarm clock hand is in iron.