Clocks · Clock
Clock, 1901–1933
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1901–1933
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- Madera Bronce Vidrio Porcelana Hierro Nácar Esmalte
- Dimensions
- Pedestal: Altura = 32 cm Anchura = 40 cm Profundidad = 20,50 cmReloj: Profundidad = 16 cm Anchura = 38,30 cm Altura = 62,50 cm
- Holding institution
- Sorolla Museum
- Accession / object no.
- pages_Main_idt_19861_inventary_30142_table_FMUS_museum_MSM
- Credit line
- Sorolla Museum
- Catalogue title (original)
- Reloj (Spanish)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Sorolla Museum (object number pages_Main_idt_19861_inventary_30142_table_FMUS_museum_MSM), this is a clock, dated 1901–1933. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Madera Bronce Vidrio Porcelana Hierro Nácar Esmalte. Recorded dimensions: Pedestal: Altura = 32 cm Anchura = 40 cm Profundidad = 20,50 cmReloj: Profundidad = 16 cm Anchura = 38,30 cm Altura = 62,50 cm. The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.
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 Sorolla Museum
Reloj de principios del siglo XX, que reproduce modelos del estilo Luis XV. Tiene caja de madera, recubierta por todos sus lados salvo por la trasera con decoración rococó a base de motivos vegetales en bronce, con incrustaciones de nácar y esmalte de distintos colores a modo de pequeñas flores. La esfera horaria, de porcelana, es redonda, con numeración romana en un círculo interior y arábiga en el exterior, pintadas en azul. En la parte inferior lleva la firma Zeller. La cuerda se encuentra en la misma esfera. En la trasera hay una puerta por la que se accede al interior de la caja, donde está el péndulo de hierro, y donde también se guarda la llave que da cuerda al mecanismo. El reloj apoya sobre cuatro patas curvadas, por lo que puede usarse como reloj de sobremesa, pero también puede usarse como reloj de pared, pues aparte se conserva un soporte piramidal invertido sobre el que puede colocarse el reloj, realizado con el mismo estilo y decoración, que tiene dos argollas para ser colgado.
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
Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
The wristwatch displaces the pocket watch; waterproof cases, self-winding and grand complications.
Between 1900 and 1945 clocks were electrified: master-clock systems ran factories and offices, synchronous mains clocks entered homes, and the Shortt free-pendulum clock set new standards of accuracy before the first quartz clocks (1927). Art Deco design reshaped mantel and table clocks.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Industrial Revolution
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.
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