PROPERTY FROM THE ABBOTT-GUGGENHEIM COLLECTION (LOTS 225-277)

A GERMAN GILT AND POLYCHROME BRASS AND EBONY STRIKING AND ALARM AUTOMATON FIGURAL TABLE CLOCK DEPICTING THE FLAGELLATION OF CHRIST

NIKOLAUS SCHMIDT THE YOUNGER, AUGSBURG, CIRCA 1630

Details

A GERMAN GILT AND POLYCHROME BRASS AND EBONY STRIKING AND ALARM AUTOMATON FIGURAL TABLE CLOCK DEPICTING THE FLAGELLATION OF CHRIST
NIKOLAUS SCHMIDT THE YOUNGER, AUGSBURG, CIRCA 1630
The henchmen lash Christ when the hours strike, the hours indicated on the dial to the base with alarm to center, the quarters to the top of the pillar, the ebony veneered boxwood case with impressed pine cone and 'EBEN' stamps to rear edge; the movement with brass plates joined by vase-shaped pillars, twin gut fusees to going and striking train, barrel to alarm, the later balance with spring, the bottom plate signed 'Nicolaus Schmidt / Der Junger', calibrated countwheel and strike to bell mounted on hinged baseplate, 'Art Treasure Exhibition 1967' label to underside
10 ¾ in. (27.5 cm.) high, 8 ½ in. (21.5 cm.) wide, 5 ½ in. (14 cm.) deep

Provenance

Schloss Collection, London.

Literature

F.J. Britten, Old Clocks and Watches & Their Makers, second edition London 1904, pp. 119-121, fig. 116.
K. Maurice, Die deutsche Räderuhr, Band II, Munich, 1976, p. 58, fig. 405.
K. Maurice and O. Mayr, The Clockwork Universe, German Clocks and Automata 1550-1650, Munich, 1980, p. 239, No. 67.

Exhibited

Time Pieces, The Staten Island Museum, New York, January-March 1959, Inv. PDG 7.
Art Treasures Exhibition, National Antique and Art Dealers Association of America, 1967.
The Clockwork Universe, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich and National Museum of American History (Smithsonian Institution), Washington, 1980/81, No. 67.

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Lot Essay

Nikolaus Schmidt the younger (b. 1582 - d. 1637), became master clockmaker in 1620, (see lot 70). Son of Nikolaus Schmidt (see lots 58 and 88) and brother of Georg (b. 1580) and Carol (Carl) (b. circa 1586).
Albert Schloss amassed a large collection of early clocks and watches, many illustrated in early editions of Britten (op cit). The watches were sold at Christie's, 8 December 1913.

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