Clocks · Wall clock
Wall clock by Dirk Engel, c. 1700
- Maker / attribution
- Dirk Engel (clockmaker)
- Date
- c. 1700
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Wall clock
- Materials / technique
- lead (metal), iron (metal), wood (plant material), velvet (fabric weave), pear (wood), rosewood (wood), brass (alloy), glass, oak (wood)
- Dimensions
- height 78 cm x width 36 cm x depth 22.5 cm
- Holding institution
- Rijksmuseum
- Accession / object no.
- BK-NM-3136
- Credit line
- Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
- Catalogue title (original)
- Hangklok met geprofileerde voet- en kroonlijst en geslingerde hoekstijlen, op vaasvormige blad (Dutch)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Rijksmuseum (object number BK-NM-3136), this is a wall clock by Dirk Engel, dated c. 1700. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: lead (metal), iron (metal), wood (plant material), velvet (fabric weave), pear (wood), rosewood (wood), brass (alloy), glass, oak (wood). Recorded dimensions: height 78 cm x width 36 cm x depth 22.5 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
Description — Rijksmuseum (Dutch)
Hollandse hangklok.Zwart hout, koperen ornamenten. Bekroning voorstellende geloof, hoop en liefde en het opschrift "Nu elck zijn sin". Aan de zijdes het wapen van de stad Amsterdam. De naam ven de uurwerkmaker is: D. Engel van Westzanen.
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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
Description — Rijksmuseum (Dutch)
Hangklok belijmd met ebben op eiken kern. Op het uitgezaagde vaasvormige blad, dat met palissander belijmd is, zijn de consoles van zwart perenhout, die het kastje dragen, bevestigd. Dit laatste heeft geprofileerde voet- en kroonlijst, geslingerde hoekstijlen en op zij glazen deurtjes. De wijzerplaat is van koper, vergulde cherubs dienen als hoekstukken; onder de wijzerplaat een maanwijzer, door vergulde cherubs geflankeerd. De onderlaag is van zwart fluweel. Het kastje heeft bovenop in het midden bellen, waarop een allegorische vrouwenfiguur en aan de voorkant en zijkanten gegoten loden frontons met lofwerk, waarin aan de voorkant Geloof, Hoop en Liefde; aan de zijkanten leeuwen, het wapenschild van Amsterdam dragend, waaronder het devies "Nu elck zijn sin". De platte slinger veschijnt in een ovale opening van het blad. Daaronder is een vergulde cherub aangebracht tussen ornament. De gewichten hangen aan koorden. Gemerkt op de wijzerplaat: D. Engel, Westzaan.
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.
Inscriptions & marks
inscription: ‘Nu elck zijn sin’; signature: ‘D. Engel, Westzaan’
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
Regulators, wall and Vienna clocks
A regulator is a precision pendulum clock used as a time standard in observatories, workshops and railway offices. Typical features are a deadbeat or Graham escapement, a temperature-compensated pendulum (mercury jar, gridiron or later invar), maintaining power and a regulator dial that separates hours, minutes and seconds. George Graham's deadbeat escapement (c. 1715) and his mercury pendulum, together with Harrison's gridiron, set the pattern for two centuries.
Wall clocks span a much wider range: the elegant Viennese Laterndluhr and Dachluhr of the Biedermeier period, the Dutch stoelklok and staartklok, English 'dial' clocks used in schools, offices and railway stations, and mass-produced spring and weight wall clocks from Germany (Gustav Becker, Junghans, Kienzle) and America.
What to look for
- Deadbeat escapement and compensated pendulum (gridiron rods, mercury jar or wood rod).
- A regulator dial with a large central minute hand and separate hour and seconds dials.
- Vienna regulators: glazed cases, slender pendulum, small weights, enamel two-piece dials.
- German factory trademarks stamped on the backplate (e.g. Gustav Becker anchor and crown, Junghans star).
Dating clues
- Graham-type deadbeat regulators: from c. 1720.
- Viennese Laterndluhr: c. 1800–1850.
- German factory 'Vienna-style' regulators: c. 1870–1930; Gustav Becker serial numbers allow close dating.
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:Deadbeat escapementAnchor (recoil) escapementGrasshopper escapement
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