Clocks · Clock
Clock by Ulrich Schniep, 1548
- Maker / attribution
- Ulrich Schniep (Maker)
- Date
- 1548
- Historical period
- Renaissance Horology (1400 – 1600)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Place
- Múnich
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- Latón Acero Vidrio
- Dimensions
- Fondo = 10,80 cm Ancho = 9,10 cm Alto = 1,30 cm
- Holding institution
- National Archaeological Museum
- Accession / object no.
- pages_Main_idt_270636_inventary_2015_31_1_table_FMUS_museum_MAN
- Credit line
- National Archaeological Museum
- Catalogue title (original)
- Reloj (Spanish)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by National Archaeological Museum (object number pages_Main_idt_270636_inventary_2015_31_1_table_FMUS_museum_MAN), this is a clock by Ulrich Schniep, made in Múnich, dated 1548. The Atlas places it in the Renaissance Horology period (1400 – 1600) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Latón Acero Vidrio. Recorded dimensions: Fondo = 10,80 cm Ancho = 9,10 cm Alto = 1,30 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 National Archaeological Museum
Primer reloj solar firmado por Ulrich Schniep, uno de los más reputados constructores alemanes de instrumentos científicos, hasta ahora conocido por un conjunto de compendios astronómicos y relojes solares de bolsillo fechados entre 1553 y 1588. Entre su clientela habitual figuraron los reyes y nobles europeos del siglo XVI, entre ellos Carlos V y, según ha demostrado esta pieza, no documentada hasta su aparición en el mercado del arte, don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel (1507-1582), III Duque de Alba, al que corresponde el escudo de armas grabado en el interior de la tapa. El Gran Duque de Alba, después de dirigir durante dos años los Tercios imperiales que lucharon contra la Liga protestante de Esmalcalda, pudo traerse a su regreso a España en 1548 este reloj solar que está diseñado para ser utilizado exclusivamente en latitudes españolas. La fama alcanzada por Schniep se demuestra en el hecho de que en 1551 el emperador Carlos V le concediera el privilegio de poseer su propio escudo heráldico con el mote Astrónomo y Constructor de brújulas (Asterinamos und Kundtpassmacher), un lema que le ennoblecía sin obviar su condición de artesano.
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
Renaissance Horology (1400 – 1600)
Spring power makes clocks portable; Nuremberg and Augsburg produce the first watches; the Prague Orloj is built.
Spring power made the domestic clock portable. Augsburg and Nuremberg produced gilt-brass table clocks, often with astronomical dials and alarms; weight-driven Gothic wall clocks and English lantern clocks served households. Clocks of this period have foliot or balance-wheel control and usually only an hour hand.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Medieval Period
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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