Clocks · Table clock
Table clock, 1585–1600
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1585–1600
- Historical period
- Renaissance Horology (1400 – 1600)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Table clock
- Materials / technique
- bronze, brass
- Dimensions
- height 12 cm; diameter 18,1 cm
- Holding institution
- Musée du Louvre, Paris
- Accession / object no.
- OA 676
- Credit line
- Musée du Louvre, Département des Objets d'art du Moyen Age, de la Renaissance et des temps modernes
- Catalogue title (original)
- Horloge de table cylindrique (French)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Musée du Louvre, Paris (object number OA 676), this is a table clock, dated 1585–1600. The Atlas places it in the Renaissance Horology period (1400 – 1600) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: bronze, brass. Recorded dimensions: height 12 cm; diameter 18,1 cm. The record is illustrated with 6 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 — Musée du Louvre (French)
Horloge de table cylindrique en laiton et bronze, composée de deux parties principales. Une base bombée, très large, ajourée de coquilles, rinceaux et fleurs repoussés et gravés, contient la cloche de la sonnerie. Elle est supportée par trois lions couchés. Au-dessus, une cage cylindrique, originellement vitrée, possède six montants ayant la forme de termes à tête de vieillard barbu. Le cadran horizontal est muni d'une aiguille en acier et d'un anneau composé d'une double numérotation de chiffres romains, de I à XII, marquée de points saillants, indiquant les heures du jour et de la nuit. Le mouvement possède deux barillets gravés de rinceaux, un échappement à roue de rencontre et un foliot annulaire.
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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
Dating and period as catalogued (French)
Epoque / période : Henri IV (1589-1610) (Occident->Renaissance->dynastie des Bourbons) · · Date de création/fabrication : 1585 - 1600
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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
Materials and techniques as catalogued (French)
Matériau : bronze · Matériau : laiton · Technique : techniques métal (orfèvrerie)
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.
Provenance
collection Alexandre-Charles Sauvageot (1781-1860) ; acquise par Sauvageot avant 1828, cf. le Livre d'achat n° 685 : "Horloge ronde à caryathides, cadran à 24 heures, pour bureau. en cuivre doré / 170 francs" ; le pied pourrait avoir été acquis en 1839, cf. le n° 1727 : "pied et support en cuivre doré à jour d'une horloge du 16e siècle / 30 francs" ; minute de la donation Sauvageot 1DD139 série K n° 12 p. 176, précision : "Le cadran plat donne les 12 heures de jour et les 12 heures ne nuit" ; donation acceptée en 1856, acte notarié le 6 mars 1857, n° 1367 : "Horloge de table, cuivre doré et ciselé, le pied évasé et bombé, découpé à jour, supporté par trois Lions, entouré d’un cylindre en verre décoré de six cariatides, socle en bois noir profilé, estimée mille francs". En 1861, Sauzay mentionne dans le Catalogue Sauvageot (n° 429) la présence de ce cylindre en verre, qui n'existe plus ; voir aussi Dubois, 1849, reproduction p. 87 : l'horloge est présentée sur un socle qui n'existe plus.
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
Bracket, table and spring-driven clocks
Spring-driven clocks freed timekeeping from the hanging weight. The coiled mainspring, documented from the fifteenth century, made portable table clocks possible; to even out its declining force, makers used the fusee, a conical pulley connected to the barrel by a gut line or chain. Renaissance table clocks from Augsburg and Nuremberg — drum-shaped, square or tower-shaped in gilt brass — were luxury scientific objects, often with astronomical dials and alarms.
After the pendulum, English makers developed the bracket clock: a wooden case with a carrying handle, a short pendulum with a verge escapement, and often repeating work to sound the hours on demand at night. Later examples use the anchor escapement. In the nineteenth century, 'table clock' became a broad term for spring clocks of every nationality.
What to look for
- A fusee in the movement (cone-shaped pulley) and the type of line — gut or chain.
- Verge escapement with a short bob pendulum, often with a decoratively engraved backplate.
- Repeat cords or buttons that make the clock strike again on demand.
- Gilt-brass engraved cases and horizontal dials on Renaissance pieces.
- Case shapes: inverted bell, bell top, break-arch, lancet or balloon.
Dating clues
- Drum and tower table clocks: c. 1520–1650.
- Ebony veneered English bracket clocks with verge escapements: c. 1670–1800.
- Engraved backplates were usual on English clocks until c. 1800, then generally plain.
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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