Herenhorloge van verguld zilver c. 1800

This gilded silver watch was made by Markus Lechner. The style of the watch, including the classical figures decorating the face, reference the taste of wealthy Europeans in the 18th and 19th centuries. In a pre-industrial society, timepieces were luxury items, commissioned as status symbols for the rich. The watch proclaims a specific kind of status, associating its wearer with the aesthetic values of ancient Greece and Rome. We can see the figures from classical mythology, such as the cherubs, suggesting a well-funded knowledge of classical art. This interest in the classical world involved an investment in institutions and ideas. To understand this watch better, you might investigate publications like auction catalogs, which document the market for luxury goods. Likewise, research into the history of watchmaking can reveal how such objects become associated with social identity. Art is always contingent on its historical moment.