s Bracket clock by King & Co., Hull and Paris, late 1800s - Hull Museums Collections

Bracket clock by King & Co., Hull and Paris, late 1800s

The shiny brass creature on top of this clock has a lion’s body, bird’s wings and a man’s head. It is based on giant stone statues discovered by archaeologists in Iraq.

Europeans were fascinated by discoveries made by archaeologists in the 1800s. Archaeologists dug up the giant stone statues of winged lions at the royal palace at Nimrud in Iraq. The statues were over 3000 years old. They were put in the palace to protect the king from demons.

Nimrud was the capital of Assyria, a kingdom in northern Iraq. Assyria dominated the Middle East during the first millennium BC. The Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal (883-859 BC) established Nimrud as his capital. He decorated his palace with huge stone statues.

Two huge statues of winged lions flanked one of the entrances to the palace’s throne room. The winged lion on this clock is strikingly similar to these statues. The statues were excavated by Austen Henry Layard. He was an archaeologist in Assyria between 1845 and 1851. He suggested that the statues embodied a lion’s strength, a bird’s swiftness and a human’s intelligence.

This clock was made by King & Co., a clock maker with branches in Hull and Paris. Clocks and watches had been made in Hull from the early 1700s.

By 1820 there were 30 clockmakers in Hull, but there were also new threats to local clock making. By 1800 clock and watch parts were being mass produced in Birmingham. By the 1830s entire clock mechanisms could be bought from Birmingham. This reduced the demand for local clockmakers’ skills.

In the 1800s clocks and watches began to be imported on a large scale from France, Germany and America. This destroyed the market for clocks made in Hull. Local traders became clock sellers rather than clockmakers.

This clock was probably made in Paris and imported to Hull. The link with Paris illustrates the decline of local clock making. It suggests that many clocks were being imported by the late 1800s.

Purchased by Hull Museums with assistance from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund.