Portable Drum Watch

ca. 1520-1550 (Renaissance)

5 cm 2.8 cm

Citation Source image

The raised dots, called "touch pieces," that are above the Roman numerals functioned much like Braille does today, allowing a blind person to read the time. A sighted owner could also use the touch pieces to check the time in the dark. The internal watch mechanism, the "move...

Artifact

id
id
30290
contentType
contentType
object
stage
stage
normalized
provenance
provenance
George Robinson Harding, London [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1921 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
rightsUri
rightsUri
CC0
language
language
en
pageCount
pageCount
6
source
source
import
Source image fields (5)
thumbnailUrl https://art.thewalters.org/images/art/PL9_58.68_Opn_BW_H77.jpg
largeImageUrl https://art.thewalters.org/images/art/PL9_58.68_Opn_BW_H77.jpg
iiifBase https://art.thewalters.org/images/art/PL9_58.68_Opn_BW_H77.jpg
imageCount 6
sourceUrl https://purl.thewalters.org/art/58.68