Clocks · Table clock
Table clock, Germany, 1560–1570
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1560–1570
- Historical period
- Renaissance Horology (1400 – 1600)
- Country of origin
- Germany
- Place
- Southern Germany
- Object type
- Table clock
- Materials / technique
- Gehäuse und Werk: vergoldetes Messing, Zifferblatt: getriebenes und vergoldetes Kupfer, Zeiger: gegossen und vergoldet
- Dimensions
- H. 7,6 cm, D. 23 cm
- Holding institution
- Landesmuseum Württemberg
- Accession / object no.
- 1973-136
- Credit line
- Landesmuseum Württemberg
- Catalogue title (original)
- Tischuhr, sog. "Orpheusuhr" (German)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Landesmuseum Württemberg (object number 1973-136), this is a table clock, made in Southern Germany, dated 1560–1570. The Atlas places it in the Renaissance Horology period (1400 – 1600) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Gehäuse und Werk: vergoldetes Messing, Zifferblatt: getriebenes und vergoldetes Kupfer, Zeiger: gegossen und vergoldet. Recorded dimensions: H. 7,6 cm, D. 23 cm. 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 Landesmuseum Württemberg (German)
Die dramatische Geschichte von Orpheus und Eurydike ist auf der Wandung des Uhrengehäuses dargestellt und gibt der Uhr ihren Namen: Orpheus gelingt es, durch den Zauber seiner Musik alle Natur und selbst den Wächter der Unterwelt, Cerberus, zu betören, so dass dieser seine geliebte Frau Eurydike freilässt. Als er sich aus Angst, Eurydike folge ihm nicht aus der Unterwelt, verbotenerweise nach ihr umwendet, muss Eurydike für immer in der Unterwelt bleiben. Für dieses erzählerische Relief bediente sich der Goldschmied den Stichen des Nürnberger Kupferstechers Virgil Solis (1515-1562). Das Blatt- und Rankenwerk auf der gesamten Deckeloberfläche ist nach einem Kupferstich Daniel Hopfers gestaltet. Das Zifferblatt, auf dem ein aufwändig gearbeiteter Zeiger die Stunden der italienischen Uhr (I-VI) weist, spricht ebenso wie eine in den Boden gravierte Umrechnungstabelle von bürgerlichen in italienische Stunden für eine Verwendung in Italien. Aus den angegebenen Daten lässt sich erschließen, dass die Tabelle für 44.30 Grad nördlicher Breite, ungefähr für die Lage von Reggio oder Modena, berechnet ist.
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
Literature: Württembergisches Landesmuseum, Schaller, Andrea: Prunkuhren der Renaissance (2001)
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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