CHRISTOFF MILLER (OR MÜLLER), AUGSBURG, CIRCA 1640

Details

A GERMAN GILT-BRASS AND EBONY STRIKING AND AUTOMATON LION CLOCK
CHRISTOFF MILLER (OR MÜLLER), AUGSBURG, CIRCA 1640
The lion shown rampant and bearing a shield with later silvered hour dial and steel hand, the foliate engraved base with quarters dial, the ebony base with Augsburg pine cone and 'EBEN' impressed stamps to lower rear of plinth, the lion's jaw moves when striking, the eyes from side to side with the seconds, with apertures to top for advancing strike and adjusting automata; the brass movement plates joined by baluster pillars with chain fusee for time and a plain fixed strike barrel, balance wheel to the verge escapement, steel hammer striking the single bell, signed 'Christoff Miller / Aug'
13 ½ in. (34 cm.) high, 10 ½ in. (24 cm.) wide, 6 7/8 in. (17.5 cm.) deep

Provenance

Georges Charliat Collection, Paris, until post 1950.
Dutch Collection, Doorn, until about 1970.

Literature

A. Chapuis, E. Droz, Automata, Neuchâtel, 1958, p. 81, fig. 78.
D. Roberts, Mystery, Novelty and Fantasy Clocks, Atglen, 1999, p. 36, figs. 3-5 A, B & C.

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Lot Essay

A virtually identical lion clock by this maker sold, the property of a Nobleman, Sotheby's, London, 11 May 1962, lot 162 to Besimon. The same clock exhibited Northern European Clocks in New York Collections, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 4 January – 28 March 1972, No. 31 (then the property of Winthrop Edey) and further illustrated and discussed in K. Maurice, Die deutsche Räderuhr, Band II, Munich, 1976, p. 51, fig. 322.
Christoph Müller (b. circa 1620 - d. 1651), active 1643.

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