228 - Monogrammist "AMW" Im Schild - Augsburg Table Clock

Monogrammist "AMW" Im Schild - Augsburg Table Clock An Augsburg square cased table clock of museum quality, with hour strike and alarm Dimensions 75 x 120 x 120 mm, circa 1590, Origin Süddeutschland Case: Firegilt brass case, cast relief decoration, silver, winged claw feet (added later). Dial: Brass, firegilt, engraved, corner spandrels filled with winged cherubs heads, engraved chapter ring with radial Roman hours I-XII, applied hour knobs for time reading by night, central alarm disc, control indicator for the striking mechanism, single iron hand. Movm.: Square brass movement, punchmark AMW within a shield, screwed on decorations, gut/fusee, 2 barrels for hour strike and alarm, 2 hammers / 1 bell, hog's bristle, stackfreed, verge escapement, two-arm iron rim foliot without balance spring. The side panels are decorated with finely cast relief friezes depicting allegorical scenes based on the designs of the Swiss-German pewterer and block cutter Caspar Enderlein (1560–1633). They show the figures Minerva, Rhetorica, Dialectica, and Grammatica set within oval cartouches, with various city views in the background. Enderlein arrived in Nuremberg in 1583 as a journeyman from Basel. In 1586 he became a master and acquired citizenship. Caspar Enderlein primarily created moulds for vessels with relief decoration, which were then executed in the workshops of other pewterers. The movement bears the master’s mark "AMW". Jürgen Abeler attributes the monogram "AMW" to an unknown master. Works associated with this maker include: a table clock dating from 1590 in the British Museum, a hexagonal table clock (Stiftsmuseum Klosterneuburg), an astronomical table clock, a square table clock, a crucifix clock, and this clock. It was part of the world-famous Ernst Sarasin-Vonder Mühll Collection in Basel and auctioned by Galerie Fischer on 18 November 1948. A horizontal table clock is a portable, small flat clock from the Renaissance and Baroque periods (16th to 17th century), whose dial sits horizontally on the top and is read from above. They usually come as four-,six- or eight-sided boxes made of gilded brass or bronze, often lavishly decorated and engraved. The dial lies horizontally on the top plate, often with only a single hour hand. This construction became possible through the invention of the mainspring and fusee in the 16th century, which allowed clocks to function in any position, independent of pendulums and gravity. Many examples were conceived as astronomical clocks or alarms and displayed not only the time but also the date, moon phases or the position of the sun. They served less as practical everyday objects and more as precious works of art, status symbols and collector’s pieces for noble courts. Case: very good. Dial: very good. Movm.: very good, capable of running, cleaning needed.