Table Watch

Silver table watch in a wooden case. The movement and the case, worked in openwork with flower and leaf tendrils, are probably European. The lid, decorated with a putto among tendrils in relief, must have been added in Batavia in 1694. The movement is signed: Batavia 1694 Noel Pol. Pol must have been the donor or seller, not the maker. Attached to the watch is a double link chain terminating in a ring with a brass key. In the lid of the wooden case, a silver plaque depicting Time and a motto is inset. Richly decorated silver lock plates and hinges. From Governor-General Willem van Outhoorn (1635-1720), who bequeathed it to Jan Trip, the husband of his granddaughter Petronella Willemina van Hoorn. Following Trip's death, it came into her possession. The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, holds this object as AK-RAK-2017-24; its record gives material recorded as copper (metal), metal, wood (plant material), silver (metal); technique engraving; measurements diameter 13 cm x height 7.5 cm x weight 1202 g. Description translated from the museum's Dutch catalogue text; details are those of this museum object, and how far it represents a wider type has not been independently verified.