96th Auction

2017/11/18

Lot 7

Marttin Zoller, Augsburg, Height 245 mm, circa 1630
A one-handed Renaissance clock with hour strike "The Sun-Crowned Madonna"
Case: ebonized wooden base, firegilt brass base and figures, rear bell. Dial: silvered, engraved. Movm.: square-shaped brass full plate movement, firegilt, 2 barrels, 1 hammer with engraved knob, stackfreed, verge escapement, hog's bristle, locking plate, two-arm steel balance without balance spring.
The black moulded base carries the cube-shaped clock with two corner columns; the clock is decorated with fine floral engraving. The central dial with inlaid Roman numerals is decorated with the exquisite engraving of an old city. On top of the clock stands a crowned Madonna surrounded by an aureole; she carries a sceptre in her left hand and her child Jesus holding a terrestrial globe in her other arm.
The motif of the Madonna surrounded by an aureole was very popular in the late middle ages and is based on the Apocalypse of John. The aureole and the golden crown symbolize her position as a queen in heaven.
The eminent clockmaker of Augsburg Martin Zoller is mentioned in ''Watchmakers'' by E.H. Baillie of 1929 and Juergen Abeler, "Meister der Uhrmacherkunst", 2nd edition Wuppertal 2010, p. 619. According to Abeler, Martin Zoller lived from 1590 until 1633. Martin Zoller probably did his master's examination in about 1590 and was still living after 1633, as we know that Matthaeus Holl, a son of Elias Holl, was an apprentice to Martin Zoller until July 1638. In all probability Zoller was a member of the Great Council of the City of Augsburg in 1649. Furthermore, some table clocks made by Martin Zoller still exist, all of them must have been made about 1640.
Similar clocks are illustrated and described in "Die deutsche Räderuhr" by Klaus Maurice, vol. II, Munich 1976, p. 57 and ill. 393-401.

Sold

estimated
8.50015.000 €
Price realized
18.600 €