An Augsburg ormolu figure of a recumbent lion from an automaton clock - image-1
An Augsburg ormolu figure of a recumbent lion from an automaton clock - image-2
An Augsburg ormolu figure of a recumbent lion from an automaton clock - image-1An Augsburg ormolu figure of a recumbent lion from an automaton clock - image-2

Lot 806 Dα

An Augsburg ormolu figure of a recumbent lion from an automaton clock

Auction 1086 - overview Cologne
19.05.2017, 17:00 - Selected Works of Art
Estimate: 4.000 € - 6.000 €
Result: 5.952 € (incl. premium)
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An Augsburg ormolu figure of a recumbent lion from an automaton clock

A finely engraved figure of a lion with remains of the clock mechanism to the interior. The lower jaw and the amber coloured glass eyes would originally have moved. Back of the head cut out as a lid and reattached. Minor wear to the gilding, minor oxidisation. H 12 cm.
Ca. 1620 - 30.

In all comparable examples, the lion is depicted lying on an ebony clock case. The eyes were apparently connected to the clock-work mechanism, and the lion would have moved his jaw at the striking of the hours.

Literature

Cf. three figural clocks with identical lions illus. in: Maurice, Die deutsche Räderuhr, Munich 1976, no. 324 ff. A fourth illus. in: Cat. A Mechanical Bestiary, Automaton Clocks of the Renaissance, Paris 2016, no. 25.