Clocks · Lantern clock; foliot
Lantern clock, Germany, 1400-1499
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1400-1499
- Historical period
- Renaissance Horology (1400 – 1600)
- Country of origin
- Germany
- Place
- Germany, Germany
- Object type
- Lantern clock; foliot
- Dimensions
- overall: 480 mm x 185 mm x 200 mm,
- Holding institution
- Science Museum Group, London
- Accession / object no.
- L2015-3456
- Credit line
- Lent by the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers
- Catalogue title (original)
- Gothic-style German chamber clock
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Science Museum Group, London (object number L2015-3456), this is a lantern clock; foliot, made in Germany, Germany, dated 1400-1499. The Atlas places it in the Renaissance Horology period (1400 – 1600) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: overall: 480 mm x 185 mm x 200 mm. The record is illustrated with 2 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
Science Museum Group description
Clocks of this sort were amongst the earliest available in Europe for domestic use. Like the tower clocks of the period, the frame is held together with wedges and the movement is regulated by a verge escapement with an adjustable bar foliot. This clock was almost certainly brightly painted when it was first made. Clockmakers' Museum No. 572
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
Lantern, chamber and Gothic clocks
Domestic weight-driven clocks were made in southern Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Flanders from the fifteenth century. These 'Gothic' or chamber clocks have an open iron frame with corner posts, a verge escapement controlled by a foliot or balance wheel, and often an alarm or hour striking on a bell mounted above.
In England the lantern clock appeared around 1600: a brass posted-frame clock with a bell on top under decorative frets, hung on a hook or set on a wall bracket. After about 1658 many were converted to pendulum control, so originality of the escapement is a key question for any surviving example.
What to look for
- Iron (continental) or brass (English) posted frames with turned corner pillars and finials.
- A single hour hand — minute hands are rare before the pendulum era.
- Evidence of conversion: plugged holes, replaced escapement wheels or later pendulums.
- Fret designs and engraving on the dial centre, which help date English lantern clocks.
Dating clues
- Continental Gothic chamber clocks: c. 1450–1650.
- English lantern clocks: c. 1600–1720, with provincial examples later.
- Short 'bob' pendulum conversions after 1658; long pendulums with anchor escapement after c. 1670.
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:Anchor (recoil) escapement
Related records
Clocks · 1400–1499
Alarm clock, Germany, 1400–1499
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 1500–1599
Table clock by Rutenieg, Valentin (um 1550) (Uhrmacher), Germany, 1500–1599
City Museum Berlin
Clocks · 1501-1600
German 16th century iron chamber clock
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · ca.1550
Clock, a striking alarm clock in a gilt brass case, Germany, ca.1550.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · 1552
Carriage / travel clock, Germany, 1552
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 1560
Carriage / travel clock by HG, Germany, 1560
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 1564
Clock, gilt brass with enamelled silver dial ring, signed by Jeremias Metzger, Augsburg, southern Germany, dated 1564
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · 1564
Table clock by #Jeremias_Metzker_Künstler/in, Germany, 1564
Fine Arts Museum Vienna