Antique Solid Brass Sand Clock

£38

An hourglass or sand clock goes way beyond being a dancing symbol on your laptop to keep you waiting for that software to be installed. The hourglass travelled in time across centuries representing mortality and science. Not to mention its core functionality of keeping time pre mechanical clocks era and of course the online world that digitalised everything including our time.

Hourglasses may have been used by the ancient Greeks and Romans, but history can only document the fact that both cultures had the technology to make the glass. The first claims to sand glasses are credited to the Greeks in the third century B.C. History also suggests sand clocks were used in the Senate of ancient Rome to time speeches, and the hourglasses got smaller and smaller, possibly as an indication of the quality of the political speeches.

The hourglass first appeared in Europe in the eighth century, and may have been made by Luitprand, a monk at the cathedral in Chartres, France. By the early fourteenth century, the sand glass was used commonly in Italy. It appears to have been widely used throughout Western Europe from that time through 1500.

This is a vintage sand clock made from solid brass. It can be a nice art deco piece for your desk, shelve, fireplace or wherever you would make use of a timed break to slow you down in busy days.

Dimensions: H26cm x D10cm

Read more: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Hourglass.html  

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