Elaborately painted and gilded clocks like this, made in the northern province of Friesland in the Netherlands, were popular in Dutch colonial port cities. They appear frequently in inventories of the estates of residents of Batavia and Malacca.The clock body itself sits within a large wall bracket with canopy. Because the wall bracket was thought to resemble a seat for the clock, the Dutch used the term “stoelklok” (stool clock) for them. They are also called “Friesian” or “Frisian” clocks, because of where they were made.
