As fragile as time itself, the conventional and abstract means of measuring space-time, the hourglass is the oldest and most familiar witness to its inexorability and irreversibility. Hourglasses were the precious companions of the learned because they were more practical than igneous methods, such as candles or water clocks, from which the Italian word for hourglass, "clessidra", stealing (clepto) water (hydor)) is derived. Paraded as symbols of scientific knowledge, they were used to measure both astral and corporal time. Ownership of an hourglass generated esteem and reputation as well as commanding authority and respect. When a teacher entered a classroom, pupils had to keep so quiet as to allow the sand running through the hourglass to be heard. An indispensable tool for all men of knowledge, the hourglass is a silent and discreet companion which measures the time of scientific reflection and philosophic meditation. Already used in the fourteenth century when it was a simple object, as can be seen from paintings and frescos, it was in the sixteenth century, when it was used by men of letters and scientists, mathematicians and physicists, that hourglasses reached their peak of splendour and popularity, and were given increasingly precious and elaborate forms and patterns. After turning these perfectly precise hourglasses at the first hour of the sundial, all daytime human activities were predetermined and regulated by the intervals marked on them. The quarter-hour bells, fights, duels, the duration of weddings, the assembly of a congregation or the duration of a council meeting were all timed using hourglasses.
The shapes of our hourglasses are reminiscent of and inspired by classical tradition: they are crafted from cast pewter and blown glass.
The shapes of our hourglasses are reminiscent of and inspired by classical tradition: they are crafted from cast pewter and blown glass.
