Clock cabinet

The clock cabinet is an intriguing piece of furniture. As Roman Reinfuss, an eminent expert in folk furniture-making, wrote many years ago, 'of all the items that make up the furnishings of a country house, the least we can say is that about clocks' (Meblarstwo [Furnniture], PWN 1977, p. 215). In Poland's northern and western regions, they arrived in the countryside at the beginning of the 19th century, at the same time as in Bohemia, Germany, Denmark or France. They were usually hidden in a standing three-part cupboard. In other regions of Poland, they began to appear in villages in the second half of the 19th century and were wall pendulum clocks. Only the mass production of artisans from the Black Forest for rural consumers (2nd half of the 19th century) popularised them among peasants, who were particularly fond of hanging cuckoo clocks. In the 20th century, when the rhythm of the day was increasingly determined by timekeeping (factory work, school, transport, etc.), the time clock became an everyday object, even in poorer homes. The clock cabinet from the collection of the National Museum in Szczecin is tall and narrow. It consists of three separate parts, which inside form a single surface. The base, supported by small turned legs, turns into an elongated central chamber, and the cabinet is closed by an upper chamber with an arched glass door. It is painted in brown and is decorated with paintings with floral motifs with a dominant rose. The delicate lines with great artistic taste, the slender silhouette with decorative little 'earflaps' make the clock cabinet a characteristic piece of furniture, graceful and elegant by 19th-century village standards.

Iwona Karwowska