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: vergoldetes Messing, Werk: Eisen
- Dimensions
- D. 23 cm, H. 9 cm
- Holding institution
- Landesmuseum Württemberg
- Accession / object no.
- 1973-24
- Credit line
- Landesmuseum Württemberg
- Catalogue title (original)
- Tischuhr "Orpheusuhr" (German)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Landesmuseum Württemberg (object number 1973-24), 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: vergoldetes Messing, Werk: Eisen. Recorded dimensions: D. 23 cm, H. 9 cm. 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
Catalogue description from Landesmuseum Württemberg (German)
Die Tischuhr hat zwei Schlagwerke für die Stunden und die Viertelstunden sowie zwei Gehwerke für die Indikationen des prächtig gestalteten Zifferblatts. Auf den sieben konzentrischen Ringen werden die Stunden, die Tierkreiszeichen, der Stand der Sonne im Tierkreis, das Datum, die Monatsbeschäftigungen, die Monatsnamen und ganz außen schließlich die Wochentage angezeigt. Außerdem besitzt die Uhr zwei kleine exzentrische Zifferblätter für die Minuten und sogar für die Sekunden. Sie ist damit die älteste bekannte Federzuguhr mit Sekundenanzeige. Benannt ist sie nach dem Reliefschmuck auf ihrem trommelförmigen Gehäuse: Bezaubert durch die Musik des Orpheus leben die wilden Tiere friedlich zusammen. Die "Orpheusuhr" ist im Uhrenkeller im Alten Schloss ausgestellt.
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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.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: Himmelein, Volker und Jan Hendrik Leopold: Prunkuhren des 16. Jahrhunderts. Sammlung Joseph Fremersdorf (1974); Württembergisches Landesmuseum, Schaller, Andrea: Prunkuhren der Renaissance (2001); Württembergisches Landesmuseum, Schröder, Heike (Red.): Kunst im Alten Schloß (1998)
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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