Clocks · Table clock
Table clock, mid-third quarter of the 16th century
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- mid-third quarter of the 16th century
- Historical period
- Renaissance Horology (1400 – 1600)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Table clock
- Dimensions
- Höhe: 23.9 cm, Breite: 11.0 cm, Tiefe: 11.0 cm (Gesamt)
- Holding institution
- Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe
- Accession / object no.
- 54/13 (Inventarnummer)
- Credit line
- Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe
- Catalogue title (original)
- Tischuhr (54/13) (German)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe (object number 54/13 (Inventarnummer)), this is a table clock, dated mid-third quarter of the 16th century. The Atlas places it in the Renaissance Horology period (1400 – 1600) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Höhe: 23.9 cm, Breite: 11.0 cm, Tiefe: 11.0 cm (Gesamt). The record is illustrated with 6 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 und halbkugeliger Glocke ist ausgestattet mit einem eisernen Werk, 24teiligem Zifferblatt und 12-Stunden-Schlagwerk mit späterer Pendelregulierung. An den Seiten finden sich gravierte Darstellungen, die auf Vorlagen von zeitgenössischen Grafiken, z.B. von Hans Sebald Beham beruhen. Auf einer Seitenwand nähert sich der als Narr verkleidete Tod einer jungen Frau; darüber stehen die Worte "OMNEM IN HOMINE VENUSTATEM / MORS ABOLET" [Der Tod zerstört die menschliche Schönheit]. Die zweite Gravierung stellt eine antikisch gekleidete Frau mit Pfeil und Spiegel dar. Auf drei der Sockelwände befinden sich gravierte Jagdszenen, auf der Vorderseite Blattwerk und im Zentrum eine Medaille mit dem Sündenfall. Das Bildprogramm verweist auf die Endlichkeit des Menschens angesichts der verinnenden Zeit.
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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.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.
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