![Clock by Escuela Centroeuropea [Autor del movimiento: Abel Kraus], 1601–1700 — view 1 of 1](/__l5e/assets-v1/9dae993c-9d03-47c0-84b8-ab2728777a5c/clock-by-escuela-centroeuropea-autor-del-movimiento-abel-kraus-1601-17-ef822f-1.jpg)
Clocks · Clock
Clock by Escuela Centroeuropea [Autor del movimiento: Abel Kraus], 1601–1700
- Maker / attribution
- Escuela Centroeuropea [Autor del movimiento: Abel Kraus] (Maker)
- Date
- 1601–1700
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Place
- Alemania
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- Bronce Vidrio Plata
- Dimensions
- Altura = 10,50 cm Anchura = 20,50 cm
- Holding institution
- Lázaro Galdiano Museum
- Accession / object no.
- pages_Main_idt_125465_inventary_02040_table_FMUS_museum_MLGM
- Credit line
- Lázaro Galdiano Museum
- Catalogue title (original)
- Reloj de sobremesa - Reloj (Spanish)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Lázaro Galdiano Museum (object number pages_Main_idt_125465_inventary_02040_table_FMUS_museum_MLGM), this is a clock by Escuela Centroeuropea [Autor del movimiento: Abel Kraus], made in Alemania, dated 1601–1700. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Bronce Vidrio Plata. Recorded dimensions: Altura = 10,50 cm Anchura = 20,50 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 Lázaro Galdiano Museum
Reloj de sobremesa en bronce cincelado y dorado de forma prismática exagonal con pies de garras con ángeles alados. Adosada en la parte inferior, una tapa con bisagra para alojamiento de tres campanas. Los seis pilares que conforman la caja representan términos femeninos y entre ellos ventanas de vidrio que dejan a la vista el movimiento. En la parte superior doble esfera en plata de doce y veinticuatro horas con cifras horarias en números romanos y arábigos que enmarcan un disco con decoración vegetal. En las esquinas querubines plateados. Una perforaciones hacen pensar en la existencia, en origen, de un cuerpo de campanas. Movimiento de platina exagonal de la que sobresale el puente del volante cincelado y calado con decoración floral. Escape de paletas. Motor a resorte con tracción por caracol y cordón de tripa. Sistema de sonería de horas y cuartos, por rueda contadera, sobre campanas, así como de despertador (Colón de Carvajal)
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.
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