TRAVELLING HOURGLASS

This exceptionally fine silver filigree hourglass is closely comparable to examples in The Grünes Gewölbe, Dresden and the Schatzkammer of the Munich Residenz. The example in Dresden (inv. no. IV 80), which is catalogued as South German. 17th century, is of almost identical form and size (13 cm. high), albeit with five columns instead of six, and with very similar filigree designs. The example in the Schatzkammer at Munich, which houses the jewels of the Wittelsbach dynasty, has six columns inset with scrolling designs, which are vertically orientated. Another hourglass, even closer in form to the present example, was with Galerie Delalande, Paris in 2016, and was described as Venetian, 17th century,
In the sixteenth and seventeenth century hourglasses were commonly used in churches, homes, and work places. The first hourglasses had two separate bulbs with a cord wrapped at their union that was then coated in wax to hold the piece together and let sand flow in between, as can be seen on the present lot. It was not until circa 1760 that glassblowers were able to blow the two bulbs together. Nuremburg was a major centre for the production of hourglasses from the early sixteenth century, and these often contained a fine reddish garnet sand sourced from the nearby village of Weissenbrunn.