Lot 72

Augsburg, Height 430 mm, circa 1610
An important Renaissance figure clock of museum quality, with rolling eyes, two automatons and quarter hour/hour strike "The dromedary"
Case: copper, firegilt, silver, chased and engraved, ebonized oak wood. Dial: silver, inlaid Roman numerals, florally engraved centre, blued steel hands. Movm.: octagonal brass full plate movement, gut/fusee for going train, barrel for striking train, iron baluster movement pillars, striking on 2 bells with 2 engraved hammers, locking plate with internal teeth and 2 control dials for quarter hour strike and automaton, brass and iron train, verge escapement, iron ring balance.
The dromedary rises from a high, octagonal base of ebonized wood with eight wooden bun feet. The proud animal wears a magnificent saddle pad and harness lavishly embellished with arabesque decoration and carries a rider on its back. The ground it stands on is made to look like a lush meadow with snails, amphibians and toads and has been mounted on top of the wooden base. The side panels of the large moulded base are abundantly decorated with silver fittings. The rider on the back of the dromedary seems to be of African origin and is dressed in the garb of a Roman general; he holds the reins in his left hand and carries a riding crop in his right.
Both figures are automatons and move in different ways: The dromedary rolls its eyes to the beat of the balance, and the rider moves his arm with the riding crop up and down on the strike of the hour.
The silver dial with inlaid Roman hours is embedded in the meadow; the central area is decorated with flowers which were, most likely, originally inlaid with enamel. The dial is framed by a firegilt bezel; the quarter hour periods are shown in Roman numerals, the five-minute divisions in Arabic numerals. The time is displayed by blued steel hands.
The movement is mounted between two brass plates and sits in the wooden base. It is driven by a gut/fusee system and a barrel, where the verge movement with rim foliot is coupled to the eyes of the animal. The striking mechanism first strikes the quarter hour on the smaller bell and then the hour on the larger one; both are operated by a locking disc with internal teeth.
In the late Middle Ages, clockmaking was far enough advanced to produce the first automatons, fine objects that connected science to art. The most important automaton clocks were created between 1580 and 1630; most of them were made in Augsburg – together with Nuremberg, Augsburg was the most important German centre of the arts. Originally these masterpieces were created as collector’s pieces for the cabinets of curiosities in noble palaces and houses of the very wealthy; they were also very popular diplomatic gifts. From the mid 16th century on, the Sultan of Constantinople regularly received automaton clocks as part of the annual tribute paid to maintain peace. Jesuit priests frequently presented the Chinese emperor with automaton clocks in the hope of bringing Christianity to China.
Only very few automaton dromedaries from this time have survived and most of them reside in museums or important collections such as the Bavarian national museum in Munich.
Two other Renaissance dromedary clocks with automaton are illustrated in Klaus Maurice , "Die deutsche Räderuhr", Vol. 2, Munich 1976, illustrations 298 and 299; another from the collection Ritter Rudolf von Gutmann in Derek Roberts, "Mystery, Novelty and Fantasy Clocks", Atglen 1999, p. 37.

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