Clock movement 1745

Filippo Polvini crafted this clock movement in the mid-18th century; it stands as a poignant marker of time's relentless march. The dial's Roman numerals, emblems of ancient order, encircle a landscape vignette, a memento mori, perhaps, urging contemplation of life's fleeting beauty against the backdrop of eternity. Consider the vase motif, a symbol of containment and potential overflow. It echoes in classical amphorae, receptacles for wine and tears, resurfacing in Renaissance gardens as fountains of life, and even in modern psychoanalysis as vessels of the self. The vase, laden with cultural baggage, mirrors our deepest anxieties about control and release. Such symbols create a powerful, subconscious connection across centuries, reminding us that while time marches forward, our collective memory circles back, forever seeking meaning in the echoes of the past.