Limbourg Clock
by Shirley Marie Dees |
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| The clock is comprised of five panels borrowed
from the Limbourg Brothers' 1413-1416 "Les Tres Riches Heures
du Duc de Berry." The original images are illuminations of
approximately 8 1/2 inches by 5 1/2 inches. These serve as the
primary theme of the clock. Each side of the clock also has a
seasonal theme with the front relating to Spring, the back to
Fall, and the sides to Winter and Summer. (To view the Summer
and Fall sides, click Limbourg:
Summer-Fall.) A hemispherical panel presides at the top of
the front of the clock, just as such images are part of each scene
in the original illuminations. The front of the clock has a sun-shape
for a face and on the face is a drawing taken from a golden mask
from the Mycenaean culture (c. 1500 B.C.) which once thrived in
the region we now call Greece. There is storage within the clock inside the door of the upper section as well as within the four drawers of the lower section. Some art historians believe that in certain illuminations the Limbourg Brothers showed with subtlety that at times the peasants who worked the lands of the upper class were more free than the aristocracy was. For example, there is an image of peasants swimming in scanty attire while the upper class wore heavy robes in the summertime. This provides another theme to the clock which is that power and privilege have costs as well. The quotes on the drawer fronts of the clock reflect this theme. The quotes are from Sir Francis Bacon of 1601 and read as follows: "Men in great place are thrice servants - servants of sovereign or state, servants of fame, and servants of business. So as they have no freedom, neither in their persons nor in their actions, nor in their times. It is a strange desire to seek power and to lose liberty, or to seek power over others and to lose power over a man's self." A cautionary quote from Sir Francis is on the back of the clock. It reads: "Use the memory of thy predecessor fairly and tenderly, for if thou dost not, it is a debt will sure be paid when thou art gone." |
Price: SOLD |
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