THE MOVEMENT BY PETER BOFENSCHEN, HANOVER, LATE 18TH CENTURY

Details

A GERMAN ORMOLU AND BRASS-MOUNTED MAHOGANY MUSICAL ORGAN CLOCK
THE MOVEMENT BY PETER BOFENSCHEN, HANOVER, LATE 18TH CENTURY
The rectangular stepped breakfront case surmounted by a pierced gallery with flaming urn finials and a central garlanded urn, the moulded architectural cornice above a triangular pediment mounted with a mask of Apollo, above a white enamel Roman and Arabic dial signed 'P. Bofenschen Hannover' with an elaborate ormolu coiled serpentine hour hand, the minute hands cast as a vine-wrapped torch, the twin-going barrel clock movement with strike on bell and with trip to the massive musical movement playing on one of nine large cylindrical pin barrels with latches to secure them to the large brass frame with transverse-mounted large leather bellows generating air to blow through sixty wooden pipes and further playing on a dulcimer with seventy individual strings, the whole movement on a massive mahogany seatboard, the the bezel flanked by ribbon-tied floral garlands and fluted columns and pilasters, headed by ionic capitals, above a stepped panelled breakfront base with conforming plinth, the sides with panelled doors and the back with a single removable panel
92 in. (234 cm.) high; 34¼ in. (87 cm.) wide; 24½ in. (62 cm.) deep

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

Peter Bofenschen (1763-1830), from Hanover, court clock-maker from 1827-1830.

On invitation from the maréchal-prince Bernadotte, Bofenschen came to the 1806 Exposition des produits de l'industrie française in Paris, where he presented a "pendule très bien exécutée, avec concert de flûte et de piano-forte, pouvant jouer vingt cinq airs au moyen de cinq cylindres que l'on substitue les uns aux autres".

This monumental musical clock is a prime example of the tradition of North German organ-clock making and Arthur W.J.G. Ord-Hume lists Peter Bofenschen alongside such famous clock makers as Heinrich Rauschenplatt from Göttingen and the Kinzing dynasty of clockmakers in Neuwied (A.W.J.G. Ord-Hume, The Musical Clock, Ashbourne, 1995, p.105 and 281).
Conceived with sixty flutes or pipes that play the main melody accompanied by the dulcimer with seventy individual strings the clock can play a selection of nine melodies, 'recorded' on interchangeable wooden cylinders.

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