SKULL-SHAPED PENDANT WATCH

Strasbourg, 17th century
Daniel Habrecht
Silver, steel, mastic (?); casting, carving, gilding

The image of the skull, symbolising death and the transience of life, occupies a special place in 16th- and 17th-century timepieces, just as it did in the literature and fine arts of the period. Reflections on the fragility of human existence and the hope of resurrection, which were widespread during the Mannerist and Baroque periods, were also embodied in watchmaking. So much so that watchmakers began to create skull-shaped pendant timepieces.

One such piece is kept in the Moscow Kremlin Museums. It was created by the Strasbourg master Daniel Habrecht and bears an engraved inscription: Daniel Habrecht Strasbourg.

The clock, whose case is made to resemble a very natural skull, is not decorated or inscribed with any other images.

When opened on one side, they reveal a dial decorated with a thin gilt rim, while on the other side, they reveal the movement. This is typical of ancient pocket timepieces, in which the details of the mechanism also had a decorative function: they were given their own artistic expression in the form of curved stems decorated with carved leaves and flowers.

In the case of the skull-shaped pendant watch, these details contrast with the frightening exterior, especially since the skull is made of white silver and the mechanism is brightly gilded. According to Yu. N. Zvezdina, the symbolic contrast between death (the skull-shaped case) and life (the warm colour of the details; the movement created by the mechanism) is manifested.