The Fifth Hour of the Night holds an urn overhead from which she gently pours the dew that settles on the earth as the night passes and glistens with the first light of dawn. The most frequently cited work concerning the identities and meanings of these figures is Sarah Hutchins Killikelly's three-volume compendium CURIOUS QUESTIONS IN HISTORY, LITERATURE, ART, AND SOCIAL LIFE, Designed as a Manual of General Information. For some reason Killikelly makes this the Fourth Hour of the Night and promotes the Fourth to Fifth. However, no other source has them in this order and all of the prints we have seen label this dew-bearer as the Fifth Hour of the Night. Along with the Sixth Hour of the Night she is one of only two nymphs who are winged; like her successor Hour, her wings are the spotted, squared off type associated with Psyche, which printers chose to make dusky and moth-like. There is a strong resemblance between this nymph and the one accompanying Raphael's Galatea, who was the model for the Third Hour of the Day.
Well executed specimens of this subject are highly coveted. Most fall short of museum quality. The carver of the first piece evidently felt the nymph should look where she is pouring and turned her head toward her left shoulder, undoing the contrapposto composition so characteristic of Raphael's work, while the artisan who produced the third example made her more modest, covering her right breast.
Although quite small compared to the brooches, this cufflink sports one of the better executed examples we have seen.
Despite the signs of aggressive cleaning (many lava cameos have been dyed and can lose color if washed), this lava cameo is another fine specimen, whose identity has been incised on the back: 5a Ora di Notte, Raffaello. The highly skilled carver was not content to leave the dew as a simple watery stream, making it appear the nymph is instead strewing cloudlets.
Either through a natural convergence of the imagery or deliberate imitation, other figures pouring liquid from an urn or jar also appear, many of them no doubt meant to represent the astrological sign Aquarius. It seems reasonable to set a standard that if the arms are not overhead, the figure is not the Hour, no matter how strong the resemblance in other ways, as with this pair of earrings.
This figure is also not the Hour, despite a superficial likeness. She will be taken up elsewhere.