Live Auction 16804Interiors: Including Noble & Private Collections
A SOUTH GERMAN GILT-BRASS AND BRONZE ‘TURMCHENUHR’ STRIKING TABLE CLOCK WITH ALARM
Lot 150 THE PROPERTY OF THE LATE MICHAEL INCHBALD

A SOUTH GERMAN GILT-BRASS AND BRONZE ‘TURMCHENUHR’ STRIKING TABLE CLOCK WITH ALARM

NICHOLAUS SCHMIDT, AUGSBURG, EARLY 17TH CENTURY

Closed10 April 2019

Price Realised

GBP 18,750

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A SOUTH GERMAN GILT-BRASS AND BRONZE ‘TURMCHENUHR’ STRIKING TABLE CLOCK WITH ALARM
NICHOLAUS SCHMIDT, AUGSBURG, EARLY 17TH CENTURY
CASE: the stepped domed top with obelisk finial and pierced arcaded galleries, the rectangular case with panels of engraved foliate scrolls flanked by fluted columns to the angles, the square base raised on bun feet, the detachable sides both stamped ‘NS’ within a shaped shield to the reverse DIALS: the silvered chapter ring with Roman hours and alarm disc to centre, the minute ring below, both with later blued steel hands, the rear with two subsidiary dials indicating the quarters and strike phases for the hours, the arbors disconnected MOVEMENT: the gilt-brass movement with square section pillars, with later verge and pendulum escapement (formerly foliot or balance), gut fusee for the going train, going barrels for the hour and quarter strike
14 ¼ in. (36.2 cm.) high; 6 5/8 in. (16.8 cm.) wide; 6 ½ in. (16.5 cm.) deep

Courtenay A. Ilbert (1888-1956) and by descent to Michael Inchbald.

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COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
Klaus Maurice and Otto Mayr (editors) The Clockwork Universe, German Clocks and Automata 1550-1650, Munich, 1980, (the catalogue of the exhibition The Clockwork Universe, shown at the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich and the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, 1980/81.).

Nikolaus Schmidt the elder (b. circa 1550, at Wiltz, Luxembourg) became a Master at Augsburg in 1576, becoming foreman of the smiths in 1586. His three sons also all became Master clockmakers; Georg (b. 1580) in 1608; Nikolaus the younger (b. 1582) in 1620; and Carl (b. 1586) in 1614. His grandson, Hans Ulrich Schmidt also became Master in 1648.
A similar clock by Nikolaus Schmidt, dated to circa 1600, with conforming spire finial was exhibited in The Clockwork Universe, catalogue no. 19 (Maurice/Mayr, p. 180), the inside side plates of that clock both being stamped ‘NS’.