Cubist clock on display as part of the "Jazz Age" exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States.

Jean Goulden (1878-1946) was born in Charpentry, France. His father was a prosperous Alsatian farmer, and Goulden graduated with a degree in medicine from the Ecole Alsacienne. He established a practice in Paris in the 1890s and became a cardiologist. Goulden volunteered to be a military doctor during World War I, and was assigned to the Macedonian front. After the war, he stayed with the monks at Mount Athos, and was exposed him to Byzantine enamelware. Returning to Paris, he sought out Jean Dunand (1877-1942), the greatest Art Deco lacquerist in France. Goulden's second wife, Dolly Schmied, was the daughter of artist François-Louis Schmied (1873-1941).

Goulden was sickened by what he saw during the war, and turned to Cubism -- a "rational" art form -- as a means of making sense of the world again. By now very wealthy due to his medical practice, Goulden gave up medicine to focus on art. During the 20 years in which he was active, Goulden produced about 20 table lamps, clocks, and other small decorative items. But his first love was enameled boxes, of which he made about 90.

Goulden was a master of champlevé, an ancient technique in which troughs or cells are carved, etched, die struck, or cast into the surface of a metal object and then filled with enamel. Although common, Goulden excelled in using textured surfaces and integrating the base metal into his designs.

This clock, made in 1928, is of silvered bronze with champlevé enamel. The manufacturer of the clockwork is not known.

1. CMAJazzAge