Lot 177

Monogramist "IVK" (Jacob van Kress), Augsburg, Height 280 mm (Total Height 335 mm), circa 1610
An ornamental Augsburg Renaissance tabernacle clock with 24 hour dial, hour strike, alarm and original winding key from the Renaissance period
Case: brass and copper, firegilt, engraved and chased ornamentation, glazed sides, open-work bell tower, 2 hammers / 1 bell, square, ebonised base (later). Dial: Front - applied silver chapter ring with blue and black Champlevé enamel inlays, Roman hours "I-XII" and Arabic hours "13-24", central alarm disc with floral engraving, blued iron hand. Back - silver hour strike control dial with floral Champlevé enamel inlays in blue and green; blued iron hand. Movm.: firegilt brass frame, brass train, gut/fusee for going train and gut/fusee for striking train, barrel for alarm, count wheel for strike mechanism, wheel balance, verge escapement, hogs bristle regulator.
The visible sides are exquisitely engraved with strapwork, pomegranates and pomegranate flowers; the corners are decorated with pilasters. Both side panels can be removed; hey have glazed arched windows with rustication elements. The open-work arcaded bell-tower with obelisk finial is surrounded by a pilaster balustrade with four corner obelisks.
Jakob van Kress (also von Kreß und Kress) was born around 1562. He became an independent clockmaker in Augsburg in 1599, though earlier work is known. He was still active in 1619, but the date of his death is not known. Another tabernacle clock by Kress is held in the Württembergisches Landesmuseum in Stuttgart.