French ivory and tortoiseshell desk clock - 1890-1910

carved elephant ivory (Loxodonta africana Blumenbach, 1797 or Elephas maximus Linnaeus, 1758) with tortoiseshell front, sides and upper part (hawksbill sea turtle, Eretmochelys imbricata, Cheloniidae). Rectangular case resting on four foliate feet; architectural front with circular clock flanked by two half-columns and in the lower part a putto with hourglass in his right hand within a shell; stepped lid with foliate decoration and spinning top grip. In hourglasses, the interval taken by the sand or water to pass from the upper, full, to the lower, empty, constituted the measure of time; frequent as a symbol of the flow of time, the transience of human life and therefore also of death. "And there seems to be no charity; that the world Be an arid hourglass, and we like sand Which, in it, we slip" (from a poem by Betòcchi Carlo). Height x width x depth: 10.5 x 7 x 19 cm. Total weight: 520 g. Item condition grading: **** good. Accompanied by Ce.S.Ar. Centro Studi Archeometrici certificate of authenticity and by CITES certificate. This lot is available for sale only with shipments within the European Union; the CITES certificate for export outside the European Community can only be requested for lots sold to museums.