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拍品专文
AUGSBURG MASTERPIECE CLOCKS
Hieronymus Syx (or Six) (b. 1680 – d. 1726), a 'small watchmaker', is documented as completing this clock in 1705 as his 'Masterpiece'. (1)
The history of the craft system in Augsburg dates to the fourteenth century when clockmakers were part of a larger guild of general smiths formed in 1368. The clockmakers became autonomous in 1564 allowing them to govern their own trade.
To become a Master, a clockmaker had to complete an apprenticeship for three years and to work following different masters as a journeyman for a similar period. Only then could he apply to be a Master clockmaker by proving his ability and skill creating a Masterpiece clock.
The Augsburg clockmakers' guild stipulated that for a Masterpiece clock the following functions had to be fulfilled;
'A clock of the dimensions as hitherto, about a span high, which strikes the hours and the quarters. It shall also have an alarm and shall likewise show the astrolabe, the length of the days, the calendar and the planets and their signs. When the quarter hand is moved, all hands shall move in time with it, and in addition the clock shall strike the hours both to 12 and 24, as one may select.' (2)
As with all Masterpiece clocks, this clock would have been made over a period of only six months. When completed in 1705, the 1577 statutes of the guild were still in force. These had remained unchanged in the intervening 128 years which explains the traditional tower format of this clock.
Augsburg is known for the quality of its clock making and this clock epitomises this high level of craftsmanship together with the collaboration of other specialist workers such as the goldsmiths, coppersmiths and brass-founders. The latter were by 1588 strictly limited to only seven masters with a further stipulation that they only cast for clockmakers. Elements such as the dolphin mounts to the angles of the present clock would have been produced in quantity and are often repeated on known clocks; for example, the masterpiece clock formerly from the Ilbert Collection and now in the British Museum (3) shares its mounts with the ‘Quitzen’ masterpiece clock by Johan Hasse (4) and another Augsburg clock of this period formerly at Münster (5). The present clock is marked with the Augsburg hallmark, the pine cone, to each end plate of the movement.
A contemporary addition to this clock are the Kunkelstein glass sphere finials, this is a type of coloured glass invented by Johann Kunkel (1637-1703) whilst director of the laboratory and glass works of Brandenburg, in imitation of rubies, formed by the reaction of gold salts with tin chloride.
(1) K. Maurice, Die Deutsche Räderuhr, vols. I & II, Munich, 1976, pp. 42-43.
(2) K. Maurice and O. Mayr, The Clockwork Universe, German Clocks and Automata 1550-1650, Munich, 1980, p. 67.
(3) Museum reference: Reg. CAI – 2129.
(4) Christie’s, London, 5 December 1995, lot 83.
(5) Maurice, Op.Cit., pl. 248.
Hieronymus Syx (or Six) (b. 1680 – d. 1726), a 'small watchmaker', is documented as completing this clock in 1705 as his 'Masterpiece'. (1)
The history of the craft system in Augsburg dates to the fourteenth century when clockmakers were part of a larger guild of general smiths formed in 1368. The clockmakers became autonomous in 1564 allowing them to govern their own trade.
To become a Master, a clockmaker had to complete an apprenticeship for three years and to work following different masters as a journeyman for a similar period. Only then could he apply to be a Master clockmaker by proving his ability and skill creating a Masterpiece clock.
The Augsburg clockmakers' guild stipulated that for a Masterpiece clock the following functions had to be fulfilled;
'A clock of the dimensions as hitherto, about a span high, which strikes the hours and the quarters. It shall also have an alarm and shall likewise show the astrolabe, the length of the days, the calendar and the planets and their signs. When the quarter hand is moved, all hands shall move in time with it, and in addition the clock shall strike the hours both to 12 and 24, as one may select.' (2)
As with all Masterpiece clocks, this clock would have been made over a period of only six months. When completed in 1705, the 1577 statutes of the guild were still in force. These had remained unchanged in the intervening 128 years which explains the traditional tower format of this clock.
Augsburg is known for the quality of its clock making and this clock epitomises this high level of craftsmanship together with the collaboration of other specialist workers such as the goldsmiths, coppersmiths and brass-founders. The latter were by 1588 strictly limited to only seven masters with a further stipulation that they only cast for clockmakers. Elements such as the dolphin mounts to the angles of the present clock would have been produced in quantity and are often repeated on known clocks; for example, the masterpiece clock formerly from the Ilbert Collection and now in the British Museum (3) shares its mounts with the ‘Quitzen’ masterpiece clock by Johan Hasse (4) and another Augsburg clock of this period formerly at Münster (5). The present clock is marked with the Augsburg hallmark, the pine cone, to each end plate of the movement.
A contemporary addition to this clock are the Kunkelstein glass sphere finials, this is a type of coloured glass invented by Johann Kunkel (1637-1703) whilst director of the laboratory and glass works of Brandenburg, in imitation of rubies, formed by the reaction of gold salts with tin chloride.
(1) K. Maurice, Die Deutsche Räderuhr, vols. I & II, Munich, 1976, pp. 42-43.
(2) K. Maurice and O. Mayr, The Clockwork Universe, German Clocks and Automata 1550-1650, Munich, 1980, p. 67.
(3) Museum reference: Reg. CAI – 2129.
(4) Christie’s, London, 5 December 1995, lot 83.
(5) Maurice, Op.Cit., pl. 248.