98th Auction
2018/11/10
Lot 275
Paullus Schiller, Nuremberg, 200 x 205 x 120 mm, circa 1620
A figural clock of museum quality, with automaton and hour strike "Urania" - a rare example of a type of clock that was later called "cercles tournants"
Case: later ebonized wooden base, moulded, window revealing the movement, decorative grille, four bun feet; firegilt bronze figure of Urania. Dial: horizontal chapter ring with Roman hours, applied on a revolving sphere. Movm.: rectangular brass full plate movement, 2 x barrels for going and striking train, blued locking plate, verge escapament, three-arm brass balance, hammer / bell.
A reclining Urania with her right arm supported by cushions is holding the terrestrial globe on a pole in her left hand and indicates to the chapter ring with Roman numerals that goes around the globe and represents the equator with a pointer in her right hand. Driven by the clock movement, Urania moves her head and her right arm with the pointer with the striking of the full hour. The grille over the sound hole between the figure and the movement is lavishly decorated with mascarons and floral garlands; together with a later addition balustrade the grill forms the upper end of the clock case.
Urania seems to have been a preserve of the Nuremberg clockmakers - judging by the origin of most of these clocks. In Greek mythology Urania is the muse of astronomy, so she is an obvious motif for decorating timepieces. This is even more valid for the clocks reviewed here because she usually holds her attributes, a celestial globe and a pointer, in her hands - that makes her a perfect choice for this novel type of timekeeping. The Nuremberg master Paulus Schiller alone created four clocks with the muse of astronomy; Schiller was born in Nuremberg in 1583.
Source: Klassik Uhren, "Wer hat an der Uhr gedreht - Cercles Tournants", Birgit Kremer, Edition 1/2011, Munich 2011, p. 12ff.
Paulus Schiller (1583-1634) was a renowned maker of clocks and automatons in Nuremberg. One of his most distinctive pieces was most likely the "reclining Urania", muse of astronomy; signed examples of this type of clock are owned by the national museum in Nuremberg, the state museum of Baden in Karlsruhe, the Guggenheim Collection in New York and a number of private collections.
Source: Jürgen Abeler "Meister der Uhrmacherkunst", 2. Edition, Wuppertal 2010, p. 491
Other examples are illustrated and described in Klaus Maurice‘s "Die deutsche Räderuhr", Vol. I, Munich 1976, Fig. 378-380 and in Klassik Uhren, "Wer hat an der Uhr gedreht - Cercles Tournants", Birgit Kremer, Edition 1/2011, Munich 2011, p. 12ff.
Provenance:
- US American collection
- This clock was sold in April 2004 at an auction at Sotheby‘s, New York, as lot no. 66.
- Distinguished private collection in Vienna
A figural clock of museum quality, with automaton and hour strike "Urania" - a rare example of a type of clock that was later called "cercles tournants"
Case: later ebonized wooden base, moulded, window revealing the movement, decorative grille, four bun feet; firegilt bronze figure of Urania. Dial: horizontal chapter ring with Roman hours, applied on a revolving sphere. Movm.: rectangular brass full plate movement, 2 x barrels for going and striking train, blued locking plate, verge escapament, three-arm brass balance, hammer / bell.
A reclining Urania with her right arm supported by cushions is holding the terrestrial globe on a pole in her left hand and indicates to the chapter ring with Roman numerals that goes around the globe and represents the equator with a pointer in her right hand. Driven by the clock movement, Urania moves her head and her right arm with the pointer with the striking of the full hour. The grille over the sound hole between the figure and the movement is lavishly decorated with mascarons and floral garlands; together with a later addition balustrade the grill forms the upper end of the clock case.
Urania seems to have been a preserve of the Nuremberg clockmakers - judging by the origin of most of these clocks. In Greek mythology Urania is the muse of astronomy, so she is an obvious motif for decorating timepieces. This is even more valid for the clocks reviewed here because she usually holds her attributes, a celestial globe and a pointer, in her hands - that makes her a perfect choice for this novel type of timekeeping. The Nuremberg master Paulus Schiller alone created four clocks with the muse of astronomy; Schiller was born in Nuremberg in 1583.
Source: Klassik Uhren, "Wer hat an der Uhr gedreht - Cercles Tournants", Birgit Kremer, Edition 1/2011, Munich 2011, p. 12ff.
Paulus Schiller (1583-1634) was a renowned maker of clocks and automatons in Nuremberg. One of his most distinctive pieces was most likely the "reclining Urania", muse of astronomy; signed examples of this type of clock are owned by the national museum in Nuremberg, the state museum of Baden in Karlsruhe, the Guggenheim Collection in New York and a number of private collections.
Source: Jürgen Abeler "Meister der Uhrmacherkunst", 2. Edition, Wuppertal 2010, p. 491
Other examples are illustrated and described in Klaus Maurice‘s "Die deutsche Räderuhr", Vol. I, Munich 1976, Fig. 378-380 and in Klassik Uhren, "Wer hat an der Uhr gedreht - Cercles Tournants", Birgit Kremer, Edition 1/2011, Munich 2011, p. 12ff.
Provenance:
- US American collection
- This clock was sold in April 2004 at an auction at Sotheby‘s, New York, as lot no. 66.
- Distinguished private collection in Vienna
Sold
estimated
16.000—25.000 €
Price realized
19.900 €