Japanese
Wall Clock, 18th century
Lacquered wood, with gold decoration and copper alloy fittings, 40.5 cm (15 15/16 in.)
Japanese Wall Clock has a long, narrow rectangular teak wood case painted black with gold painted decoration. The front of the case has gold peonies, vines and birds painted on the two side panels. The center has a black wood insert with 12 irregularly spaced brass ovals with a different symbol carved on each one. There is a very small drawer at the bottom. The sides of the case are decorated with gold painted medallions with a vine pattern running between them. At the top of the case there is a slightly larger wooden box with a clear glass panel in front that is painted gold and has a delicate metal filigree insert. The sides of this box are open to expose the mechanical gears. The back of the clock has several yellowed paper tags attached to it.
Macknight Room
Commentary
This wall clock was purchased from the antiquities dealer Yamanaka and Company. Founded by Yamanaka Sadajirō in New York City, Yamanaka and Company quickly became the preeminent Japanese art dealer beginning in the late 19th century and extending through the first half of the 20th century, opening branches all over the world, including Boston. This clock is made of lacquered tagayasan wood, an "ironwood" known for its strength. Among the gold flowers and animals decorating the surface, there is also a copper alloy fitting at the top of the clock with a design of passion flowers, or as they are known in Japan, "clock flowers" due to the circular shape and regularity of the petals. Interestingly, this wall clock does not, however, have a circular face, but rather a rectangular face with thirteen plaques set vertically into the wood; it was designed to tell traditional Japanese time, a system in which daytime and nighttime are divided into six unequal periods that varied with the seasons.