Clocks · Clock
Table clock with alarm in cylindrical case of gilded brass engraved with mythological scenes
- Maker / attribution
- Michael Wagner (maker)
- Date
- 1680-1704
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Place
- Breslau
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- Brass, iron, steel, engraving
- Dimensions
- Height: 10.8 cm; Diameter: 13.6 cm
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- M.172-1938
- Credit line
- Given by W.E.Miller FSA, 1934
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number M.172-1938), this is a clock by Michael Wagner, made in Breslau, dated 1680-1704. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Brass, iron, steel, engraving. Recorded dimensions: Height: 10.8 cm; Diameter: 13.6 cm. The record is illustrated with 4 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
V&A — Summary
A table clock with alarm with a cylindrical case in gilt brass engraved with mythological scenes including Aeneas and Anchises, Atalanta and Meleager and Venus and Adonis, made in Wroclaw by Michael Wagner, late 17th century.
V&A — Physical description
A cylindrical table clock engraved with four mythological scenes illustrating Aeneas carrying Anchises; Atalanta and Meleager; an unidentified scene; Venus and Adonis. Above a flattened dome of engraved floral openwork with five cartouches showing views of towns, supports the horizontal dial numbered I-XII, the hour indicator is carried on a brass disc engraved with floral decoration and numbers 1-12 for the setting of the alarm by means of a steel hand mounted at its centre. The bottom-plate of the later movement is enriched with engraved openwork details and is engraved 'MICHAEL WAGNER JUN.BRESLAU' The removable base of the case has a moulded rim and is engraved with a wreath of rose boughs. A small door in the side of the case discloses the gut fusee. Dial: The chapter ring 7.3 cm diameter; the alarm disc 2 inches diameter is of the same date as the case, and carries the iron pointer. Steel hand for the alarm setting. The top plate of the movement under the dial is 7.6 diameter. The bottom plate is 8.9 cm diameter with moulded rim to fit the outer case. The winding holes are crudely engraved G and W. Movement: Going train with fusee, gut line, brass wheels, verge escapement and small iron balance-wheel. The cocks finely pierced. Alarm train with resting barrel and iron wheels.
V&A — Object history
Michael Wagner is recorded as working in Breslau(Wroclaw) from 1681 when he married until 1704 (Brian Loomes, Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World , 2006) This is one of group of fourteen sun dials and clocks given by W.E.Miller FSA in 1938.
Inscriptions & marks
MICHAEL WAGNER JUN.BRESLAU
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.
Read next:Anchor (recoil) escapement
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