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Clocks · Clock

Clock, 1600

DocumentedDocumented from the holding institution's catalogue record.
Maker / attribution
Unrecorded in source
Date
1600
Country of origin
Unrecorded in source
Object type
Clock
Materials / technique
Silver Glas
Dimensions
Bredd 115 mm
Holding institution
Blekinge Museum
Accession / object no.
blm_item_12942
Credit line
Blekinge Museum
Catalogue title (original)
Reseur (Swedish)

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Record summary

Held and catalogued by Blekinge Museum (object number blm_item_12942), this is a clock, dated 1600. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Silver Glas. Recorded dimensions: Bredd 115 mm. The record is illustrated with 4 photographs.

Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.

Catalogue description

Catalogue description from Blekinge Museum

Reseur av silver, horisontalt bordsur. Liggande, fyrsidig form på bronserade (nya) lejontassar. Sidorna genombrutna med beslagsinramat glas. Urtavlan graverad. Innerst en rund förgylld tavla, graverad med ros. Arabiska siffror samt en genombruten visare vid tavlans kant. I mitten finns visare av järn. Ena visaren för timmar och den andra för väckningsverket. Utanför den förgyllda tavlan finns en sifferring av silver med graverade svärtade romerska siffror. I hörnen finns gjutna och brännförgyllda änglahuvud. Verkets undersida prydd med rik ornering. Signerat: "Gerhardus Schrotbergk Gedan". Lucka på undersidan som skyddar delar av urverket och dekorerade delar. Ur av 1600-talstyp. Typen kallas för reseur eftersom de är portabla och har slagverk och väckanordning som var användbart i resesammanhang. Typen tillverkades framför allt i Polen och Tyskland, kallas även för polskt ur. (Litt: Åstrand, Barbro 1980: "Gamla ur - ur Kulturen samlingar", "Kulturen" 1975) Reseuret har tillhört fängelsedirektör O Johanson i Karlskrona. Gåva 1901 av Advokat Karl von Feilitzen, Karlskrona.

Shown in the original language of the source catalogue. An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.

Historical context

Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)

Huygens' pendulum and balance spring transform accuracy; English makers develop the anchor and deadbeat escapements.

Huygens's pendulum (1656–57) improved clock accuracy from about a quarter of an hour to under a minute a day. The anchor escapement (c. 1670) and the long seconds pendulum created the longcase clock; London makers such as Fromanteel, Knibb, Tompion and Quare led European clockmaking, and French makers created the Boulle pendule.

Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Renaissance Horology

Atlas type guide

Domestic clocks

A clock combines four systems: a source of power (falling weight, coiled spring, or later electricity), a gear train that divides time, an escapement and oscillator that regulate it (foliot, pendulum or balance), and an indicating system of dial and hands or a bell. Its history runs from the large iron weight-driven clocks of the late thirteenth century to Renaissance spring-driven table clocks, the pendulum revolution of 1656, the factory clocks of the nineteenth century and electric and quartz clocks of the twentieth.

Domestic clocks also reflect regional furniture and decorative traditions — English longcase and bracket clocks, French pendules, Viennese regulators, Black Forest and American shelf clocks — and therefore record changing tastes as much as technical progress.

What to look for

  • How the clock is powered: weights, spring barrel, fusee, electric coil.
  • The oscillator: foliot, short pendulum, long seconds pendulum or balance.
  • Whether it strikes: hour only (count wheel) or hours and quarters (rack striking).
  • The maker or retailer's name on dial and movement, and any factory trademarks.
  • Signs of alteration — replaced dials, converted escapements, 'married' cases.

Dating clues

  • Before 1656 clocks used foliots or balances; after, most domestic clocks have pendulums.
  • Anchor escapements spread after c. 1670; minute hands became common at the same time.
  • Factory production in America and Germany transformed prices after c. 1840.

General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.

Read next:Verge escapementAnchor (recoil) escapementFoliot

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