Instruments · Hourglass
Dolls Peacock chair with hourglass
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 2010
- Historical period
- Contemporary Horology (2010 – Present)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Hourglass
- Materials / technique
- Bamboe of rotan-pit plastic draad tweekleurig koord
- Dimensions
- H=40 cm B=26 cm D=17 cm zitH=17 cm
- Holding institution
- Rauws Wicker Chair Collection
- Accession / object no.
- RWCC_240530
- Credit line
- Rauws Wicker Chair Collection
- Catalogue title (original)
- Dolls Peacock chair with hourglass (English)
View the source record ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Rauws Wicker Chair Collection (object number RWCC_240530), this is a hourglass, dated 2010. The Atlas places it in the Contemporary Horology period (2010 – Present) of its Instruments collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Bamboe of rotan-pit plastic draad tweekleurig koord. Recorded dimensions: H=40 cm B=26 cm D=17 cm zitH=17 cm. The record is illustrated with 3 photographs.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Catalogue description from Rauws Wicker Chair Collection
PEACOCK Doll chair hourglass base and flared backrest. Round seat base. Two front legs, armrests and backrest edged with blue/white cord. Wickerwork of split bamboo sticks? Does not contain iron nails. Wrapping tape partly made of plastic. Label "Handmade in Philippines".
Historical context
Contemporary Horology (2010 – Present)
Silicon components, connected watches, optical-lattice research clocks and a thriving independent scene.
Read the period in the timelineMore instruments from this periodEarlier: Mechanical Renaissance
Atlas type guide
Sandglasses and hourglasses
A sandglass measures an interval rather than telling the time of day: a fixed quantity of fine material runs from one bulb into the other through a narrow neck. Documented in Europe from the fourteenth century, sandglasses were used on board ship to time watches and to measure speed with the log line, in churches to time sermons, in schools, laboratories and kitchens.
Early glasses were made as two separate bulbs bound together at the neck with a diaphragm and wax and thread; one-piece blown glasses only became usual in the nineteenth century. The 'sand' could be powdered marble, eggshell or metal filings, carefully sieved and dried. Sets of graduated glasses in one frame allowed several intervals to be timed.
What to look for
- Whether the two bulbs are separate and bound at the neck, or blown as one piece.
- The frame: turned wood, brass, silver or pewter, sometimes with pillars and decorated end plates.
- Multiple glasses in a single frame, giving quarter, half, three-quarter and full hours.
- Marine glasses of 30 seconds or 28 seconds used with the log line.
Dating clues
- Bound two-piece glasses predate about 1800; one-piece glasses are generally later.
- Sermon glasses on pulpits and multi-glass frames are characteristic of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
