This important, elaborate table clock is by one of France's greatest timepiece makers. Its internal complexity is reflected on the delicately engraved silver dial with its indication of the current time, an alarm setting, and a calendar with the phases of the moon.
The decoration includes both fine piercing and engraved figural designs including an elderly Father Time with his hourglass and staff accompanied by the personifications of the four Seasons. Hercules wearing a lion's skin supports the clock on his head and arms, referring to the myth in which Hercules takes Atlas' place in holding up the universe. Atop the clock is a second small figurine of Hercules with a club. The clock itself stands for the revolving heavens; in the 1500s and 1600s, clocks with their many turning, regulated wheelworks were seen as mechanical models representing the circular motions of the universe.
<bdi><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q33133530" class="extiw" title="d:Q33133530"><span title="French clockmaker and sculptor">Antoine Arlaud</span></a>
</bdi>
between circa 1580 and circa 1600 <div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1500-00-00T00:00:00Z/6,P1319,+1580-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1326,+1600-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902</div> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Renaissance" class="extiw" title="w:en:Renaissance"><span title="cultural movement that spanned the period roughly from the 14th to the 17th century">Renaissance</span></a><div style="display: none;">era QS:P2348,Q4692</div>)
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Walters_Art_Museum" class="extiw" title="w:en:Walters Art Museum"><span title="art museum in Baltimore, Maryland, United States">Walters Art Museum</span></a>: <a href="https://thewalters.org/" rel="nofollow"><img alt="Nuvola filesystems folder home.svg" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg/20px-Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg.png" decoding="async" width="20" height="20" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg/30px-Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg/40px-Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128"></a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://thewalters.org/">Home page</a> <a href="https://art.thewalters.org/detail/20029" rel="nofollow"><img alt="Information icon.svg" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/20px-Information_icon.svg.png" decoding="async" width="20" height="20" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/30px-Information_icon.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/40px-Information_icon.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="620" data-file-height="620"></a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://art.thewalters.org/detail/20029">Info about artwork</a>