In 1965 Fortnum and Mason added the ornate clock over the front entrance of their Piccadilly store. It weighs three tons and the front of the building needed to be reinforced when it was installed. The eighteen bells chime every 15 minutes and on the hour to the tune of the Eton School anthem, doors open and four foot high figures of Mr Fortnum and Mr Mason appear. They bow to each other, check standards are being upkept, turn around and go back inside.
For more information on Frank Stella and his work, click here
Throughout the ages and across the world the apple has been employed symbolically in several senses: Eris’s ‘Golden Apple of Discord’; ‘The Golden Apples’ of immortality from the Garden of the Hesperides; evil and temptation, the apple eaten by Adam and Eve; for the Chinese, apple blossom symbolises peace and beauty; sacred to Apollo, the apple tree was associated with health and immortality; to Venus the apple represented love and desire; and for the Celts it was the icon of knowledge, magic and prophesy.
In the language of alchemy, the ‘Golden Apple’ is a symbol of sulphur.
Penguin Books Ltd, London, 1996
If you’re interested in the history behind the ever-ubiquitous apple logo, click here
