{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O147835"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O147835/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BC4419/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BC4419/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BC4419","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BC4417","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019LX7865","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O147835/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O147835","accessionNumber":"2375-1855","objectType":"Table clock","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Since sheet brass was easy to engrave, it was ideal for making precision instruments such as sundials and clocks. France and Germany were leading producers from 1600 onwards. Clocks were prestigious objects. This example is beautifully pierced and engraved with the biblical story of the Good Samaritan. With table clocks such as this the dial is placed on the top.","physicalDescription":"Square-based table clock with pierced domed lid, the body of sheet brass, the movement of steel, engraved and gilt, the sides depicting the story of the Good Samaritan.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Pichard, B","id":"A21578"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28690"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"brass","id":"AAT10946"},{"text":"gilt","id":"x30367"},{"text":"steel","id":"AAT133751"}],"techniques":[{"text":"engraving","id":"AAT53829"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Gilt brass","categories":[{"text":"Clocks & Watches","id":"THES48976"},{"text":"Christianity","id":"THES48978"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2006BC4419","2006BC4417","2019LX7865"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"116 (VA)","id":"THES49908"},"free":"","case":"1","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Table Clock","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Paris","id":"x29068"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1600","earliest":"1595-01-01","latest":"1604-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"5","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"5","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Signed 'B. Pichard à Paris'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"Bought by the Museum from the Bernal Collection in 1855. This was an enormous collection of metalwork, glass, ceramics and miniatures belonging to Ralph Bernal, a lawyer and MP. The sale by Christie, Manson and Woods took 32 days during which 4294 lots fetched nearly £71,000. The Museum bought 730 lots.\n\n<u>Provenance</u>\r\n\r\nRalph Bernal (1783-1854) was a renowned collector and objects from his collection are now in museums across the world, including the V&amp;A. He was born into a Sephardic Jewish family of Spanish descent, but was baptised into the Christian religion at the age of 22. Bernal studied at Christ's College, Cambridge, and subsequently became a prominent Whig politician. He built a reputation for himself as a man of taste and culture through the collection he amassed and later in life he became the president of the British Archaeological Society. Yet the main source of income which enabled him to do this was the profits from enslaved labour.\r\n\r\nIn 1811, Bernal inherited three sugar plantations in Jamaica, where over 500 people were eventually enslaved. Almost immediately, he began collecting works of art and antiquities. After the emancipation of those enslaved in the British Caribbean in the 1830s, made possible in part by acts of their own resistance, Bernal was awarded compensation of more than £11,450 (equivalent to over £1.5 million today). This was for the loss of 564 people enslaved on Bernal's estates who were classed by the British government as his 'property'. They included people like Antora, and her son Edward, who in August 1834 was around five years old (The National Archives, T 71/49). Receiving the money appears to have led to an escalation of Bernal's collecting.\r\n\r\nWhen Bernal died in 1855, he was celebrated for 'the perfection of his taste, as well as the extent of his knowledge' (Christie and Manson, 1855). His collection was dispersed in a major auction during which the Museum of Ornamental Art at Marlborough House, which later became the South Kensington Museum (now the V&amp;A), was the biggest single buyer.\r\n","historicalContext":"Sheet brass is soft and easy to engrave. It was ideal for making precision instruments such as sundials and clocks. France and Germany were leading producers from 1600 onwards. Clocks were prestigious objects. This example is beautifully pierced and engraved with the biblical story of the Good Samaritan.","briefDescription":"Table Clock, sheet brass, engraved, pierced and gilt, Paris, ca.1600, signed 'B(?) Pichard, à Paris'","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"Signed: 'B. Pichard à Paris'","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"Bernal, Ralph","id":"C2927"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":["Parable of the Good Samaritan; Gospel of Luke, chapter 10 verses 25–37."],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Belinda Gentle Metalware Gallery (Room 116)\r\n\r\nCLOCK\r\nSheet brass, engraved, pierced and gilded\r\nFrance; about 1600\r\nSigned ‘B(?) Pichart àParis’ \r\nSince sheet brass was easy to engrave, it was ideal for making precision instruments such as sundials and clocks. France and Germany were leading producers from 1600 onwards. Clocks were prestigious objects. This example is beautifully pierced and engraved with the biblical story of the Good Samaritan.\r\nBought in 1855 from the Bernal Collection\r\nMuseum no. 2375–1855","date":{"text":"November 2004","earliest":"2004-11-01","latest":"2004-11-30"}}],"partNumbers":["2375-1855"],"accessionNumberNum":"2375","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1855,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2016JF1894","2016JF1895","2016JP5757","2019LR2574","2019LP1640","2019LW1124"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-11-12","recordCreationDate":"2008-03-19","availableToBook":false}}