A Place to Hang a Pocket Watch for the Night

 

QUESTION: Recently, while browsing a local antique show, I came across a dealer with a display of oddly looking little pieces. They didn’t seem to have any function and each had a large hole or cavity, so I asked her what they were. She said they were pocket watch holders. I had never seen anything like them before since pocket watches went out of style in the mid 20th century. Why would a person need a pocket watch holder? Wouldn’t they just place their pocket watch on a chest top or nightstand at the end of the day? What can you tell me about these curious little items?

ANSWER: During the 19th Century people used pocket watch holders, often referred to as a watch hutches, to hang their pocket watches in overnight to protect them from loss or damage—it’s better for the watch mechanism if it hangs vertically rather than lying flat. These watch holders also converted any pocket watch into small table or mantel clocks in a room that didn't contain a clock. They also made perfect bedside clocks, before the advent of alarm clocks.

During the second half of the 19th Century, cast iron was the most common material for making pocket watch holders. Artisans covered these unsightly cast pieces with gilded bronze to simulate gold. Artisans sculpted the original designs to represent forms in nature, such as vines and leaves or figural representations of country life. Mounted on a marble base and standing between 7 and 8 inches tall, they were quite heavy.

Each holder featured either a round frame with a metal pocket in which to place the watch, or a metal hook from which to hang it. Fanciful designs often featured Baroque cherubs.

Craftsmen cast less expensive versions in spelter, a heavy zinc and lead alloy, over which they applied a bronze wash or brightly colored paint. They sculpted the originals of animals or single figurines. One example shows a peasant girl carrying a garland wreath. Another depicts a young girl in a sheer, swirling dress which swirls in front to form a tray for cufflinks, watch chain, or coins. Still another example, depicts a parrot either about to land on or take off from a branch and painted a bright chartreuse and red.

The French called them porte montre, meaning “watch stand.” Parisian artisans fashioned ornate watch holders for wealthy travelers visiting Paris on the Grand Tour. Pocket watches were a necessity during this era and fine shops along the Palais Royal specialized in selling unusual and whimsical accessories to hold pocket watches at the end of the day.

These holders came in a variety of decorative styles, from Neoclassical to Regency and on to the opulence of Napoleon III. After the 1860s, watch holder makers explored the styles of the day, such as Rococo Revival and Renaissance Revival. As the 20th century dawned, artisans created holders in the styles of Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts—and by the mid-1920s, Art Deco.

Parisian artisans created some of the most elaborate pocket watch holders. Resembling a larger version of the famed Limoge porcelain box, these became known as a casque porte montre, or pocket watch casket.

By the late 19th century watch holders could be found in a vast variety of shapes and forms. Champlevé, an enameling technique in which craftsmen carved, etched, die struck, or cast troughs into the surface of a metal object, then filled these troughs with vitreous enamel. was especially popular. After the initial preparation, they then fired the piece until the enamel fused, and when cooled, polished the surface of the object. The uncarved portions of the original surface remained visible as a frame for the enamel designs. The name, champlevé comes from the French for "raised field," or background, though the technique in practice lowers the area to be enameled rather than raising the rest of the surface.

Developed in the late 19th Century, these little gems usually often featured a beveled glass box mounted on sculpted brass legs. While some had an eglomise, or back painted view of Paris, most were clear glass.

One fine example is a French cristal d' opale rose “hortensia” or “gorge de pigeon,” hand embellished with raised enamel flowers and gilt accents. The rich iridescent pink “hortensia” opaline glass is beautifully supported by delicate ormolu mounts.

One of the more unusual examples of a watch holder originated during the gilded age of Napoleon III. Made in the form of a soldier's helmet which sits on a white marble base, its hand cut gilded brass is meticulously tooled to form the front and back of the hat. The crown of the helmet is of white opaline, with a gilded brass finial. It has a hand tooled gilded mount at the bottom. The helmet top opens to reveal a pocket watch holder mounted with a gilded brass frame. A "U" shaped hook at the top holds the watch while the interior, lined with red velvet, is typical of this opulent period.

Pocket watch holder makers also produced dramatic designs drawn from Nature. On one example, an eagle with its wings outspread and perched on a festoon of arrows and laurel leaves, holds an elongated hook. The top of the piece has a very large cartouche made of two curved cornucopia and a central swan, with neck curved downward, perched on a fleur de lis. A half-moon festoon of laurel leaves flow from one cornucopia to the other.

Also originating in Paris is cast bronze watch holder, designed by 19th-century French artist, Emile Joseph Cartier, featuring a little bird alighting atop a cascading vine of leaves which spill onto the base of the bottom mount. The detail of the little bird—its feathers, sweet expression, and outstretched wings give him a very lifelike appearance. In his beak he holds a curved stick onto which to hang a watch. A half-egg shape bowl, ornamented with leaves and berries, which could hold coins or other jewelry items, rests below him.

Yet another, made of bronze/metal, features painted detailing to give the effect of fine porcelain. The chubby little body of a cherub with his hands outstretched stands on a cradle made from an egg. He has delicate wings and wears a quiver around his waist, as well as delicate detailing to his fingers and toes and the feathers of his wings. His bow serves as the support for the pocket watch, which hangs within the sculpture design.

Specifically designed and carved as souvenirs are a group of pocket watch holders from towns in the 19th-century "Black Forest" area of Switzerland, Germany, parts of France and Italy, where they pleased travelers on the Grand Tour. These hand carved treasures range from whimsical small bears to large watch holders and wall plaques showing the most realistic anatomical studies of stag, fowl, and "fruits of the hunt."

One of the most important French artists of the 1920s, Maurice Frecourt, known for his animal sculptures, produced watch holders in the sleek style of Art Deco. After the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris in 1925, designers embraced the geometric style of Art Deco. One of his watch holders features a stylized bird standing at the edge of a bowl with its wings up and touching and mounted on a black and green veined piece of octagonal marble. He engraved this piece with detailed feathers both in front and in the back.

Some pocket watch holders imitated other clock cases, only in miniature. Each evening the pocket watch owner placed his watch into the hole where the clock face would be.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "Return to Toyland" in the 2024 Holiday Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Form Follows Function

 

QUESTION: While I normally associated blonde furniture with the 1950s, I was surprised to see a chest at a recent antique show that the dealer said dated to the early 19th century. She referred to it as Biedermeier, after a design movement in Vienna. Austria. Can you tell me more about this style of furniture/? I’ve never seen anything like it. 

ANSWER: Biedermeier was a German-based decorative movement which spread throughout Europe from 1815 to 1848. The style’s name came from Ludwig Eichrodt and Adolf Kussmaul, who depicted the typical bourgeois of the period under the name "Gottfried Biedermeier."–"Gott" meaning "God," fried" meaning "peace," "Bieder" meaning "commonplace,"_meier" meaning "steward"—in their Fliegende Blatter (Pamphlets), a Viennese journal of the day. However, it wasn’t called Biedermeier until 1886, when Georg Hirth wrote a book about 19th-century interior design and used the word "Biedermeier" to describe domestic German furniture of the 1820s and 1830s.

Biedermeier furniture suited the modest size and needs of comfortable bourgeois households.  In middle-class homes, with fewer separate rooms, the concept of the Wohninsel, or "living island," became popular. This made it possible to perform a number of activities in one room—writing, sewing, music making—each characterized by different furniture.

The “living island,” or as it’s known today living room, usually included an ottoman, several armchairs and chairs upholstered in woolen material, sometimes in silk or damask; a round table, a mirror and where possible a glass-fronted case for silver and a piano. The less severe appearance of Biedermeier furniture led to a less formal arrangement of rooms as a whole. Flowers, screens, worktables and knickknacks of all sorts helped to give a sense of family life. The bourgeoisie began to form a personal style, thus creating what’s now known as interior design.

People arranged suites of furniture in the corners, creating areas for eating, chatting,  reading, and doing embroidery. Each had a sofa, table and chairs—the most numerous items created in the Biedermeier style.

Prior to 1830, Viennese cabinetmakers began using mahogany in their furniture, gradually replacing walnut. They gave their finished pieces a light finish, often applying matching stains and finishes to pieces made in walnut, pear wood, and Hungarian "watered" ash.

Cabinetmakers used boards to construct their pieces, which meant that they designed furniture to be seen from the front and executed its ornamentation, such as relief pillars, pilasters, and caryatids, with this in mind.

And by 1830 Viennese craftsmen no longer relied upon French, German, and Italian designers for inspiration. Instead, they used native products, creating pieces based on Directoire and Empire designs, showing a good understanding of form, balance and the use of ornament in gilded bronze.

Viennese cabinetmakers used mostly veneers over a soft wood frame. Inlay served as the main decorative element, featuring the patterned graining of walnut and often reduced to a light-colored border. Sometimes, craftsmen used black poplar or bird's eye maple and colored woods such as cherry and pear also became popular.

Biedermeier furniture makers used gold and black paint to decorate their pieces. They constructed drawers and their housings so perfect and fitted that, even today, when someone pulls out a larger drawer and returns it, the other drawers in the same bank are propelled forward by the force of air created. They also dovetailed, molded and finished drawer linings, making intervening partitions flush on top and paneled beneath.

Cabinetmakers also employed less expensive stamped brass wreaths and festoons rather than bronze for decorative effect and gilded wooden stars instead of the elaborate metal ornaments of the Empire style. Sometimes, they chose cheaper, new materials such as pressed paper.

No previous period produced such a wealth of different types of seating, with a myriad of variations on the basic scheme of four legs, a seat, and a back. From 1815 to 1835, Biedermeier craftsmen discovered that a chair could be given literally hundreds of different shapes. Upholsterers padded their creations with horse-hair and covered them with brightly colored velvet and calico. Pleated fabrics covered furniture, walls, ceilings, and alcoves.

By the 1840s the Biedermeier style became romanticized—straight lines became curved and serpentine; simple surfaces became more and more embellished beyond the natural materials; humanistic form became more fantastic; and textures became experimental.

An identifying feature of Biedermeier furniture is its extremely restrained geometric appearance. Some furniture took on new roles; for example, a table became the family table, around which chairs were set for evening activities. Or table tops could be placed against the wall in a vertical position. A portable piano had a drawer for sewing things, while the upper drawer of a chest of drawers might be converted into a writing desk.

Next to the secretary, the sofa was one of the most popular of Biedermeier pieces. Rectangular, with a high back and sides, sofas looked deceptively hard. In fact, their depth and solidity made them very comfortable.

Armchairs, too, became more comfortable as changing fashions permitted men to sit back and take their ease.

Secretaries were popular as more people wrote letters. While designs varied, most featured a central niche, a mirror, and secret drawers. Cabinetmakers also produced veneered cupboards, vitrines, and wardrobes. 

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "Return to Toyland" in the 2024 Holiday Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.