Alabaster Mantel Clock with Putti and Swan Decoration

• Putto / Putti / Amorino / Amorini - A putto (plural: putti) or amerino (plural: amerini) is a cherub or cupid frequently appearing in both mythological and religious paintings and sculpture, especially of the Renaissance and Baroque periods and later used as a decorative element in the design of furniture, ceramics, statuary etc. They are usually depicted as chubby males, or of indeterminate gender, often with wings. Their depiction may represent an association with love, heaven, peace or prosperity.
• Chapter Ring - A separate metal plate on the face of a clock, on which the numerals for the hours and sometimes parts of the hours, are displayed, usually wheel shaped and sitting on top of the dial plate. The chapter ring is often a feature of the clock and can be silvered or enamelled to stand as a contrast to its background. The hours are usually shown in Roman numerals, although in the late 19th and earlt 20th century, Arabic numerals became fashionable.
• Alabaster - Alabaster is soft natural stone used for statuary, with a similar appearance to marble, but easier to work with. As it is softer than marble, an item made from alabaster can be scratched with a metal object, and an alabaster item does not polish to a high surface gloss like marble.
  
  Alabaster objects can be semi-translucent. Alabaster occurs in a pure white form and also with veining from dirt. Colours vary from white through yellow and pink to brown. The veining is usually green or black but can be multicoloured.
  
  Being semi-translucent, alabaster is often used for the bowls of figural lamps, with the figure itself being either alabaster or marble.
• Pendulum - The pendulum was discovered around 1602 by Galileo Galilei, and was adopted for time keeping by the Dutch mathematician and natural philosopher, Christiaan Huygens, who excelled in astronomy, physics, and horology.
  
  The pendulum comprises a metal rod usually of brass or steel with a metal disk, known as a bob, at the end. The movement of the pendulum is driven by weights or a spring, and as a pendulum swings in a regular arc, it was found accuracy could be controlled to within a few seconds a week.
  
  Timekeeping can be adjusted by changing the height of the bob on the rod, making the pendulum either swing slower or faster.
  
  The disadvantage of the pendulum was that changes in temperature also changed the length of the pendulum, interfering with the accuracy of the clock, and so in the 18th century two types of mercurial pendulums were invented which countered the movement in the steel rod.
  
  The pendulum was the world's most accurate timekeeping technology until the invention of the quartz clock, regulated by a quartz crystal, in 1927.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• clocks, type - figural 695