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Table clock, Sweden, 1575–1599 — view 1 of 1
View 1 of 1 · Image: Nordic Museum Foundation · original image source (opens another website in a new tab)

Clocks · Table clock

Table clock, Sweden, 1575–1599

DocumentedDocumented from the holding institution's catalogue record.
Maker / attribution
Unrecorded in source
Date
1575–1599
Historical period
Renaissance Horology (1400 – 1600)
Country of origin
Sweden
Place
Sverige Stockholm Stockholm Stockholm
Object type
Table clock
Materials / technique
image/jpeg text/plain
Dimensions
Diameter 6.5 cm
Holding institution
Nordic Museum Foundation
Accession / object no.
NM.0087191
Credit line
Nordic Museum Foundation
Catalogue title (original)
Bordsur (Swedish)

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Record summary

Held and catalogued by Nordic Museum Foundation (object number NM.0087191), this is a table clock, made in Sverige Stockholm Stockholm Stockholm, Sweden, dated 1575–1599. The Atlas places it in the Renaissance Horology period (1400 – 1600) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: image/jpeg text/plain. Recorded dimensions: Diameter 6.5 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 Nordic Museum Foundation

Huvudliggaren: "Bordsur. Från slutet av 1500-talet. Märkt: E : G : O * B : C : G. Tillhört Erik Gabrielson Oxenstierna (af Eke och Lindö) frih. född på 1540-talet, död 1594. G[åva] af herr G. Alyhr, Stockholm. 30/ 9 1899." Bordsur, cylindriskt, av förgylld mässing med graverade vapensköldar och initialerna "E.G.O" och B.C.G" [= friherre Erik Gabrielson Oxenstierna av Eka och Lindö, f. på 1540-talet, d. 1594 och hustrun Bengta Carlsdotter Gena.] /Anna Arfvidsson Womack 2020

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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.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:FuseeVerge escapementAnchor (recoil) escapement

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