Gothic iron clock with weight driven movement

An image of Gothic Iron Clock. Unknown Maker. Dial: Ogee arched top dial plate with cut out centre showing hour wheel surrounded by a white painted chapter ring (now discoloured) with roman numerals I - XII and dots for half hours in black. Below this is a quarter hour dial consisting of a white painted ring with black roman numerals I - IIII. There is a similar quarter hour dial painted on a circular plate on the left hand side of the clock. Both quarter hour dials are later, probably seventeenth century. All the hands are of iron and probably date from this time. Weight driven movement, of 15 hour duration and striking the hours. The whole clock made of iron and with both trains at right angles to the dial. Various spare holes in top and bottom bars of frame and pieces cut out of latter, all indicative of considerable modification over the years. The going train controlled by a replaced verge escapement and foliot balance with moveable weights for adjusting the timekeeping. The striking train has an external count wheel with attached gear wheel, a warning action, and a horizontal hammer arbor. The warning wheel (brass) and, probably, some of the pinions have been replaced. The frame with typical Gothic decoration and, as is normal with these clocks, there is no provision for enclosing the movement. There has been considerable repainting of the clock over the centuries, some of it with gold paint. Iron, height 36.2 cm, circa 1500-1525. Renaissance. Scan.

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Gothic Iron Clock. Unknown Maker. Dial: Ogee arched top dial plate with cut out centre showing hour wheel surrounded by a white painted chapter ring (now discoloured) with roman numerals I - XII and dots for half hours in black. Below this is a quarter hour dial consisting of a white painted ring with black roman numerals I - IIII. There is a similar quarter hour dial painted on a circular plate on the left hand side of the clock. Both quarter hour dials are later, probably seventeenth century. All the hands are of iron and probably date from this time. Weight driven movement, of 15 hour duration and striking the hours. The whole clock made of iron and with both trains at right angles to the dial. Various spare holes in top and bottom bars of frame and pieces cut out of latter, all indicative of considerable modification over the years. The going train controlled by a replaced verge escapement and foliot balance with moveable weights for adjusting the timekeeping. The striking train has an external count wheel with attached gear wheel, a warning action, and a horizontal hammer arbor. The warning wheel (brass) and, probably, some of the pinions have been replaced. The frame with typical Gothic decoration and, as is normal with these clocks, there is no provision for enclosing the movement. There has been considerable repainting of the clock over the centuries, some of it with gold paint. Iron, height 36.2 cm, circa 1500-1525. Renaissance. Scan.

Image data

Accession Number: M.18-1940
Photograph copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Photographer name: Amy Jugg
Image height: 1025 pixels
Image width: 760 pixels
Processed with: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.0 (Windows)
Filesize: 395.33kB

Key words

16th Century chapter ring clock dial dial plate finial Fitz_AA German Gothic iron movement numbers numerals ogee Renaissance table clock weight

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            The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024)
            "Gothic iron clock with weight driven movement"
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