Lot 20

Christoff Schön(n)er Fecit Augusta, 250 x 180 mm, circa 1680
An Augsburg table clock with quarter hour / hour self strike, date and mock pendulum
Case: bronze, gilt, hinged back door with 2 integrated bells. Dial: applied silver chapter ring, window for date, aperture for mock pendulum, adjusting regulator scale. Movm.: rectangular brass full plate movement, signed, chain/fusee, 3 barrels, 2 hammers, the heads formed and engraved with fish, applied blued iron click work, locking plate and control dial for strike, verge escapement with foliot.
The cartouche-shaped front is elaborately decorated with exquisitely chased and engraved low relief volutes and acanthus leaves; the clock is supported by a tylised sperm whale on each side and surmounted by a figure of Chronos. The motto "Sic Tempora Fugiunt" (This is how time passes) is engraved above the mock pendulum.
The back of the solid case has four screwed-in bun feet, so that the clock can be used as a horizontal table clock.
Christoph Schöner or Schönner was born before 1660 in Vienna but later settled in Augsburg. In 1681 he married the widow of watchmaker Rochus Stressler and ran his own business from 1681 on. Schöner was a very prolific maker and many of his works are now owned by national and international museums and private collections. Schöner died in 1709.
Source: Jürgen Abeler, "Meister der Uhrmacherkunst", 2nd Edition, Wuppertal 2010, p. 511f.