A SILVERED BRONZE, ENAMELED SILVER AND GILT-BRONZE ELEPHANT AUTOMATON CLOCK

A SILVERED BRONZE, ENAMELED SILVER AND GILT-BRONZE ELEPHANT AUTOMATON CLOCK

AUGSBURG, CIRCA 1600-1610

The clock is in the form of an elephant, with a howdah in the form of a castle tower, with four turbaned soldiers with raised scimitars which rotate around the tower, there are two enameled dials and two glass dials through which the clock works are visible, the elephant’s eyes move and he is accompanied by two mahouts, one riding on his back and a second walking alongside, all on a naturalistically-cast ground on a silver-mounted ebony and ebonized pearwood veneered base over an oak carcass, which encloses further mechanics which propel the automaton forward in a slight circle, the works are currently partially non-functioning but are largely intact and, with restoration, will almost certainly be able to function and detailed condition reports are available upon request.

Approximately 13.7 in. (35 cm.) height overall; 3.5 in. (9 cm.) height of pedestal; 10.2 in. (26 cm.) height of elephant from ground to top of tower

Provenance

Hannah Mathilde Baroness von Rothschild (1832-1924) and Wilhelm Carl Baron von Rothschild (1828-1901), Schloss Grüneburg, Frankfurt am Main and Königstein im Taunus [unconfirmed].

Minna Karoline (Minka) Baroness von Goldschmidt-Rothschild (1857-1903) and Maximilian Baron von Goldschmidt-Rothschild (1843-1940), Rothschild Palais, Bockenheimer Landstraße 10, Frankfurt am Main, until 1938.

Museum für Kunsthandwerk (now the Museum Angewandte Kunst), Frankfurt am Main, 11 November, 1938 (inv. no. G.R.1353) [von Goldschmidt-Rothschild’s forced sale to the City of Frankfurt am Main].

With Carl Müller-Ruzika, art dealership, Frankfurt am Main, 1943 [the museum traded von Goldschmidt-Rothschild’s clock for a ‘Louis XV Bronze Wall Clock‘].

Art market, Frankfurt am Main or Cologne, 1943-late 1940s [unconfirmed].

Dr. Irmgard Baroness von Lemmers-Danforth (1892-1984), late 1940s-1963.

Städtische Museen of the city of Wetzlar, Sammlung Dr. Irmgard von Lemmers-Danforth: Europäische Wohnkultur der Renaissance und des Barock, Palais Papius, Wetzlar, 1963-2021.

Restituted by the city of Wetzlar to the heirs of Maximilian Baron von Goldschmidt-Rothschild, 2021.

Literature

K. Maurice, Die deutsche Räderuhr: Zur Kunst und Technik des mechanischen Zeitmessers im deutschen Sprachraum, Munich, 1976, vol. 2, p. 48, no. 287.

W. Koeppe, Die-Lemmers-Danforth Sammlung Wetzlar: Europäische Wohnkultur aus Renaissance und Barock, Heidelberg, 1992, p. 268.

A. Kugel, Un bestiaire mécanique: Horloges à automates de la Renaissance 1580-1640, Paris, 2016, p. 130, fig. 3.

W. Koeppe, ed., Making Marvels: Science and Splendor at the Courts of Europe, exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2019, p. 238.

Exhibited

Städtische Museen, Sammlung Dr. Irmgard von Lemmers-Danforth: Europäische Wohnkultur der Renaissance und des Barock, Palais Papius, Wetzlar, 1963-2021.