Clocks · Mechanical clock
Table clock in the shape of Atlas
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- c.1603 - c.1628
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- France
- Place
- Lyon urn:rijksmuseum:thesaurus:RM0001.THESAU.6141
- Object type
- Mechanical clock
- Materials / technique
- silver (metal) bronze (metal) glass
- Dimensions
- height 19.7 cm width 6.3 cm depth 6.0 cm
- Holding institution
- Rijksmuseum
- Accession / object no.
- BK-17012
- Credit line
- Rijksmuseum
- Catalogue title (original)
- Table clock in the shape of Atlas (English)
View the source record ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Rijksmuseum (object number BK-17012), this is a mechanical clock, made in Lyon urn:rijksmuseum:thesaurus:RM0001.THESAU.6141, France, dated c.1603 - c.1628. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: silver (metal) bronze (metal) glass. Recorded dimensions: height 19.7 cm width 6.3 cm depth 6.0 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 Rijksmuseum
As a rule, Atlas carries a celestial globe, a three-dimensional map of the stars. A timepiece can also represent the universe, showing the movement of the stars. To enhance the engraving on the dial and foot, the furrows of the lines were filled with niello, a rich black alloy of silver, copper and sulphur.
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.
Related records
Clocks · 1590–1610
Clock, France, 1590–1610
MAK – Museum of Applied Arts
Clocks · c. 1600
Table Clock, sheet brass, engraved, pierced and gilt, Paris, ca.1600, signed 'B(?) Pichard, à Paris'
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · 1600–1699
Table clock by Charles Goret, France, 1600–1699
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 1640
Table clock, France, 1640
Rijksmuseum
Clocks · late 17th century
Clock with case of tortoiseshell inlaid with brass, Paris, late 17th century
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · 1650
Crucifix Clock, signed W. H. Arnstad, mid- 17th century.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · c. 1690
Clock with pedestal, case attributed to André Charles Boulle, France, c. 1690
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Clocks · c. 1690
Table clock by Marc Boucher, France, c. 1690
German Clock Museum