The image of Father Time appeared in North America at least as early as 1678, in the carving of a gravestone for Joseph Tapping in the burial ground of King’s Chapel, in Boston. The gravestone’s unidentified Charlestown, Massachusetts, carver borrowed the image from Hieroglyphiques of the Life of Man, an emblem book by the English poet Francis Quarles (1592–1644) that was published in London in 1638. Because the figure of Father Time traditionally refers to the impermanence of human life and endeavor, early New England stonecarvers often incorporated it into their gravestone designs.

By longstanding convention, Father Time is depicted as a winged, bearded figure holding an hourglass and scythe or sickle. It is believed that the image is related to classical portraits of Kronos, one of the Titans of Greek mythology. An agricultural deity, Kronos is generally shown with a scythe.

Although the purpose of this mysterious representation of Father Time is undetermined, it probably was a shop figure. When discovered in Utica, New York, in the 1950s, it was being used to announce the arrival of customers in a second-hand store. Originally articulated, with a trip lever in a spring-wound clock mechanism at its base, the right hand moved, permitting the sickle to hit the suspended bell. Other American shop figures portraying Father Time are known, including one, made about 1790, from the famous Boston shop of John and Simeon Skillin.

Gerard C. Wertkin, "Father Time," in Stacy C. Hollander, American Anthem: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 363-64.