The Second Hour of the Day holds both hands upraised. Is she feeling the warmth of the strengthening morning sun on her palms? Or is she perhaps helping it in its ascent?
The "luminary", as it is called in one source, is not a simple depiction of the sun. The artist's intention varies between print makers' versions and scholars' interpretations: it is covered at the right edge of its disk by the moon, which is eclipsing it; it is a waning moon, indicating that night is passing away. Except there is no good reason why the sun should be eclipsed daily at this hour, and a crescent moon of this shape is waxing, not waning. Another interpreter says it is not the moon, merely a way of signifying that the sun is not yet at its full strength. Some commentators make no comment on this feature at all.
Many chromolithographic prints framed the figure in an oval, leaving no room for a second heavenly body. Whether because carvers were working with the same spatial constraints, or because the prints that came their way were more often like the one to the right, leaving carvers unaware the scene was incomplete, the majority of cameos featuring this Hour leave her empty handed. 
There are some exceptions. The carver of this piece even gave her an extra length of scarf as well.
However, for the most part, while this Hour makes frequent appearances, it is most often as a bracelet panel or small pendant. In these cramped venues her execution tends to be poor.
As is discussed in the article of the Fourth Hour of the Day, the French sculptor Claude Michel, "Clodion", shall we say, "borrowed" a couple of Hours that now seem to be accepted as his own original work. The Fourth Hour came to be known as the Allegory of Astronomy, or, when paired with this one, as Allegory of the Day. With its ambiguous "luminary", this terracotta bas-relief has become known as—what else?—Allegory of the Night.
