Clocks · Table clock
Table clock, early 17th century
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- early 17th century
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Table clock
- Materials / technique
- Vergoldetes Messing (Material/Technik)
- Dimensions
- Höhe: 24.3 cm, Breite: 12.6 cm, Tiefe: 12.6 cm (Gesamt)
- Holding institution
- Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe
- Accession / object no.
- 54/27 (Inventarnummer)
- Credit line
- Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe
- Catalogue title (original)
- Tischuhr (54/27) (German)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe (object number 54/27 (Inventarnummer)), this is a table clock, dated early 17th century. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Vergoldetes Messing (Material/Technik). Recorded dimensions: Höhe: 24.3 cm, Breite: 12.6 cm, Tiefe: 12.6 cm (Gesamt). The record is illustrated with 3 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 from Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe
Die Tischuhr in der namensgebenden Turmform ist allseitig mit Arabesken graviert und ruht auf einem breiten Sockel mit getriebenen Schweifwerk. Das abgerundete, die Glocke bedeckende Dach ist reich durchbrochen. Das Uhrwerk aus Eisen hatte ursprünglich eine Radunruhe, zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt erhielt es Pendel. Mit nur einem Zeiger wird die volle Stunde angegeben und das Schlagwerk ausgelöst. Das Gehäuse trägt das Augsburger Stadtwappen und die Meistermarke AB.
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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.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
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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