Take Time to Decorate a Chicken Salad - French Clock Chicken Salad
The Roman numerals are slivers of green pepper set upon hardboiled egg halves. The peas in the centre represent the "jewels" found in a French clock. "Set it at the hour at which you intend to serve the salad." That smooth topping? Stiff mayonnaise!
Janet Peters' Personal Cookbook (from the pages of Canadian Homes and Gardens), 1956