Beschreibung:

A rare Danish Renaissance gilt brass steel-framed table clock Daniel Kersten, Odense, late 16th century The posted movement now with back-wound fusee, flanged spring barrel and verge escapement regulated by sprung three-arm brass balance to the going train, the strike train of single-arbor warnless type with nag's head lifting, gilt foliate scroll band engraved decoration to the standing barrel, steel great wheel, hammer wheel, countwheel and fly pivoted within gilt brass movement plates set between brass top and bottom plates with square section steel uprights, the dial plate with fine stylised foliate scroll engraved centre within applied silvered Roman numeral chapter ring with tied asterisk half hour markers, with floral sprays to upper spandrel areas over conforming scrolling to lower section incorporating blanked winding hole labelled GA WERK over signature DANEL KERSTEN y ODENSE to lower margin, the angles with fluted three-quarter Corinthian columns over plinths applied with grotesque masks and the sides engraved with standing female figures emblematic of Charity and Justice, the rear engraved with hour-strike dial within further scrolling flowering foliage and with one of the winding holes labelled SCHA WERK towards the lower margin, the brass case top plate concealing the balance and mounted with the hour bell beneath rococo scroll band decorated domed cover with leafy knop and attachment lugs over each corner, on spread ogee moulded base engraved with repeating leaf decoration over small disc feet, (strike train lacking overlift and locking wheels, the going train with early conversion to fusee), 21.5cm (8.5ins) high. Daniel Kersten of Odense appears not to be recorded however the form and construction of the current lot appears very closely related to Germanic work. It is perhaps worth noting that Odense is only a relatively short Baltic boat journey from the important Hansiatic Port of Lubeck, which through its strategic importance, had become one of most sophisticated Renaissance cities in Northern Europe during the 14th-16th centuries. This proximity naturally assisted passage of the latest skills and knowledge into the wealthy Danish Kingdom (despite their unrelenting rivalry with their Baltic neighbours). This included the clockmaking trade with makers conversant in the latest technology and designs becoming established in major regional capitals of the Danish provinces as well as Copenhagen itself. Danish table clocks dating from the 16th century are particularly rare although other known examples include a stunning complex astronomical table clock by Steffen Brenner Copenhagen, dated 1558 is illustrated in Maurice, Klaus and Mayr, Otto THE CLOCKWORK UNIVERSE German Clocks and Automata 1550-1650 on pages 216-17; and a quarter-striking example by Jorgen Eckler (ex. Rothschild collection at Mentmore Towers) which was sold at Sotheby's New York sale of MASTERPIECES FROM THE TIME MUSEUM, PART FOUR, VOLUME I 13th October 2004, lot 510. The combined use of steel and brass in the movement of the present clock would most likely date it to the last quarter of the 16th century as by around 1600 steel was generally as only used for pinions, arbors and detents. The engraved panels depicting Justice and Charity appears are very much in the style of mid 16th century German engravers such as Hans Sebald Beham (c. 1500-50) and Virgil Solis (1514-62) although they do not appear to directly follow designs by any of the better known engravers. The pleasing scrolling foliate decoration to the dial, back panel and strike barrel is notable in that it departs from the more structured strapwork designs seen on most other Germanic examples of the period suggesting that the decoration could be more reflective of the clocks regional Danish origins. Although the clock has seen some relatively early updating work to the mechanism (conversion to fusee drive and sprung balance to the going train) it has never been adapted to pendulum regu