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Table clock, Germany, 1551–1600 — view 1 of 1
View 1 of 1 · Image: GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Leipzig; photo: Matthias Hildebrand · original image source (opens another website in a new tab)

Clocks · Table clock

Table clock, Germany, 1551–1600

DocumentedDocumented from the holding institution's catalogue record.
Maker / attribution
Unrecorded in source
Date
1551–1600
Historical period
Renaissance Horology (1400 – 1600)
Country of origin
Germany
Place
Germany
Object type
Table clock
Materials / technique
Silber, Messing, Eisen, teilweise vergoldet
Dimensions
Höhe: 4,6 cm; Durchmesser: 7,7 cm
Holding institution
GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst Leipzig
Accession / object no.
1996.32
Credit line
GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst Leipzig
Catalogue title (original)
Tischuhr (German)

View the source record ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction

Record summary

Held and catalogued by GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst Leipzig (object number 1996.32), this is a table clock, made in Germany, dated 1551–1600. The Atlas places it in the Renaissance Horology period (1400 – 1600) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Silber, Messing, Eisen, teilweise vergoldet. Recorded dimensions: Höhe: 4,6 cm; Durchmesser: 7,7 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 GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst Leipzig (German)

Dosenförmige Tischuhr mit allseitig graviertem Gehäuse. Das Zifferblatt mit Stundenzeiger weist um einen 12-zackigen Stern die Ziffern I-XII, darunter 13-24 auf. An der Wandung Mauresken mit Blattwek sowie Wappen mit Helm und Helmzier (springender, geflügelter Greif). Die Gravierung des Bodens greift erneut die Mauresken um einen fünfzackigen Stern auf, gerahmt von einem Lorbeerkranz.Werk: Eisen. Das Federhaus aus Messing. Gehwerk mit Federhaus, Schnecke und Kette. Alter Bestand

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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.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

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.

Read next:Verge escapementAnchor (recoil) escapement

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